


Hidden

by Yanyangire



Category: Breaking Bad
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Animal Traits, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Jesse basically has puppy ears and a tail, M/M, Self-Esteem Issues, Slow Burn, Xenophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2018-11-03 06:27:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 92,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10961580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yanyangire/pseuds/Yanyangire
Summary: AU - Desperately trying to elude arrest from the DEA sudenly showing up at the warehourse for where the past six months Walter White has worked as a meth cook, he accidentally hits a young man with his car. The man, Jesse, now with broken ribs, knowing who he is threatens to turn Walt over unless he helps him escape to safety. And so Walt finds himself, much to his frustration, forced to look after the boy until his injuries heal in his small shabby cabin. Also, the boy happens to be one of thosemutts.Nevertheless, after months of isolation, slowly but surely, Walt begings to realise that hitting the mutt with his car may have been the best thing to happen to him in a long time.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time writing an AU Breaking Bad. The world here is a bit different from the show, instead taking place in a recovering post-apocalyptic society were while normal humans far outnumber them, there are beings referred to as mutts, humans who happen to have characteristics of dogs in the form of ears, tail and senses. They are generally looked upon with disdain and Jesse happens to be one of them. Whether mutt's are naturally occurring or are a genetically modified trait is left unknown due to a blank period in human history, hence leading to them being treated with hositility and suspicion. 
> 
> Anyway, I've always found Jesse's character very reminsince of a puppy with his excitability, and loyalty to Walt, thus me wanting to write him as such. Like an actual puppy, Jesse deserves all the love.

Walt cursed loudly as he drove as fast as he possibly could, given the unfortunate circumstances he faced ahead. With the roads a bright white blanket before him, no doubt concealing hidden patches of ice, he couldn’t afford to drive too fast less he lose control of the car and in end up heavily injured or dead in a ditch somewhere.

Of all the times for it to start snowing heavily, why in the hell did it have to happen now? Now, when he happened to be fleeing from a DEA raid were if caught could spent the rest of his life in prison.

He cursed again as he tried to make out the world before him as best as he could, the windshield wipers clearing the snow away only for more to instantly take its place, meanwhile resisting the urge to put his foot down on the accelerator and speed away as fast as he could. He just needed to get home – or well, as much as he could possibly call that shabby old cabin he currently resided in home – and everything would be fine. He had made a decent amount of money. Not nearly as much as he had hoped but perhaps enough that he could justify doing what he had done and to put the whole mess behind him, pretending that it hadn’t happened.

Besides, it hadn’t been like he had been planning on doing it forever. He had just wanted to make enough to cover his medical bills and secure a decent future for Junior and Holly, which in this rotten world was high near impossible. But if he managed even a little then it would have surely been all worth it.

After had earned enough he had planned on quitting, had hoped that Skyler would even consider taking him back, that he could finally be with his family once again.

But now that was all in jeopardy as he found himself speeding away from the old warehouse where for the past six months he had been secretly cooking methamphetamine for a faction of the cartel. He had made a fair bit of money doing so, far more than he could have ever possibly dreamed of making at his job as a high school chemistry teacher. And so after finding out he had stage three lung cancer, not to mention a new baby on the way relying on him to provide for her and the rest of his family, Walt jumped at the opportunity. After all, in this dire world you had to grasp any chance you could just to get by, even if it was illegal and incredibly risky endeavour given that you happened to have a brother-in-law in the DEA…

While the meeting with Hector Salamanca had been pure chance – after losing his job, Walt unable to face his family had gone out a bar with the noble intention of getting drunk and had overheard a conversation between Salamanca and two of his men – in a way, it had been Hank, his brother in law who had seeded the idea in his mind, after having one evening gone on at length about bringing down a group of guys who cooked and sold meth and the vast amount of cash he and his colleagues happened upon in their house.

Walt had almost spat out his drink upon hearing the number. All that money for what he knew for himself would be a case of simple chemistry. Curiosity as a scientist also made him wonder how good their product actually was.

“Sounds like a good way to make a buck,” Walt had said casually.

“Yeah, until we catch your ass and throw you in jail, then it don’t look like such a good gig,” Hank laughed, “But hey, it’s cause of these scumbags I got a job, you know?”

‘A very well paying job,’ Walt had thought bitterly, unable to say the same for himself.

Walt had thought no more of it after that, but when he had overhead Salamanca at the bar that night talking in hushed tones about needing a new meth cook, somewhere from Walt’s brain, the memory was brought to the forefront of his mind, and due to being also slightly inebriated by that point, Walt found himself approaching the man’s table to introduce himself, an action that would probably have gotten him killed if Hector Salamanca hadn’t been in such a precarious position what with his last cook having just died two days before from overdosing. In his line of work, a dead cook was no excuse for not meeting targets.

If he had been a religious man, Salamanca may have thought Walter White showing up at that bar that night had been fate. As such, the only things Hector Salamanca believed in were money and results. And as a man of science Walt had no time to entertain notions of fate or destiny. It was merely an opportunity, one Walt planned on taking full advantage of, and so shaking off any trepidation and perhaps even survival instinct (there was a good chance he was going to die soon anyway) he dragged himself from the bar and with a courage he was unaware he possessed went to offer himself up for a job that would inevitably lead, albeit six months later, to his current predicament.

Much to Walt’s relief, the man, along with his rather intimidating employees, were willing to listen to his pitch. He began listing a number of chemicals and tried to explain the process he would take, but he was quickly cut off by Salamanca.

“I don’t give a shit about any of that as long as you can cook,” he declared.

Walt immediately shut up and nodded. “No. Yes, absolutely I can.”

And so the very next day, Walt was granted the opportunity to show off such skills. He had been deadly nervous along with the added bonus of being completely sober, his now more rationale mind was demanding to know what the hell he had been thinking.

Thankfully, however, he managed to succeed all expectations and Hector Salamanca declared triumphantly that he had found his new cook, demanding Walt start production at once. Walt was more than happy to, needing to earn money as soon as possible. And so his stint as a criminal had begun.

Nevertheless, one of his conditions had been that no one know his identity; he wanted to remain an unseen figure and thankfully Salamanca obliged with his request. After all, their sales tripled with Walt as their manufacturer, Walter White producing a purity of meth he nor anyone else had ever seen before; surely, he could grant him this favour.

Walt’s lab was at the very back of the warehouse so he could remain concealed and out of view. This would prove to be more advantageous than he would ever know as when the DEA showed up, guns blazing, Walt was instantly alerted to their presence from the shouting and gunshots outside. There was a small back entrance, the same one he used to enter the warehouse to remain unseen, and so without a second thought he bolted for the door, started driving and never looked back.

And so here he now was, driving as fast as he could manage through the snow to escape arrest. Hank no doubt would have been part of the raid, and if he had gotten even the smallest glimpse of Walt or his car, everything would be all over for him.

While his fingerprints would be all over the equipment, he had never had any run ins with the law before. They wouldn’t have him on record. He would be fine. He had escaped, he told himself, he would definitely be okay.

And just as he had began to accept the thought, from out the trees a figure suddenly appeared on the road in front of him.

Walt put the breaks on as fast as he could but it was no use, he hit the person in turn knocking them backwards.

Walt’s panic returned tenfold as he sat there for a moment, trying to process what had just happened before quickly rushing out of the car to the figure lying on the ground. They appeared to be both alive and conscious, their right arm wrapped around their chest as they groaned in pain. Had Walt been driving any faster and not stopped as quickly, the person would have surely been tossed right over the car and possibly killed.

“Are you okay?” Walt shouted worriedly, standing in front of them, unsure what to do exactly, the snow falling down around him.

“Do I fucking look like I’m okay?! You hit me with your car, asshole!” the figure on the ground shot back, glaring up at him.

The person he had hit looked to be a young man in his early twenties or so. Walt didn’t see any blood on him but given that he was wearing a large oversized yellow hoodie and a beanie covering his head, it was difficult to tell.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t see-” He paused.

“Wait, you’re the one who ran out into the middle of road!” yelled Walt, suddenly realising that he had absolutely nothing to apologise for, “If I hadn’t stopped when I had, you’d be dead right now!”

“You were the one speeding, dick!” the young man retorted, apparently unwilling to take responsibility for his predicament.

“I wasn’t speeding. And what the hell were you doing running into the middle of the road in the first place?” Walt asked, suddenly curious.

“None of your business,” he spat back, “Now are you gonna help me up or just stand their gawking and shit?”

Walt huffed in frustration but reaching down, he took the young man’s free arm and carefully helped him up.

“Shit, I think some of my ribs are broken,” he said, grimacing slightly in pain.

Panic returned to Walt at the realisation that there was absolutely no way he could take the young man to the hospital. He was fleeing a crime scene after all. He needed to get home were if questioned he would claim to have been all day. There would be no one there who could back up the statement, but neither would there be anyone to refute it.

“Do you have a cell phone?” Walt asked, trying to figure things out.

“Uh, yeah.” The man young pulled it out. However, apparently like his ribs, the object hadn’t escaped unscathed.

“Shit, it’s busted, yo,” he announced, clicking down on the buttons in frustration.

Walt cursed.  He didn’t have time for this.

“Look, I’m sorry but I really need to go. I’m positive some other car will drive by soon enough. If you signal for them to pull over and tell them you were hit, I’m sure they’ll take you to a hospital, okay?”

“What the hell!? You’re just gonna leave me out here!?”

Walt ran his hand over his head. It certainly wasn’t ideal but what choice did he have?

“I understand this is a very unfortunate situation,” Walt said, trying to project sympathy, “But I am in a huge hurry and as things stand I can’t afford to take you to the hospital.”

“I would call an ambulance for you but I don’t have a cell phone,” he lied, not wanting to risk there being any trace, “But like, I said, I’m sure someone will drive by-”

“Wait, a minute, I know you,” interrupted the young man, a flicker or recognition in his eyes, “You…You’re him! Your Salamanca’s cook, yo!”

Walt’s entire body immediately tensed up. “W-What? I’m not-”

“That’s why you were driving so fast! You were at the factory when the DEA showed up. You heard them shooting up the place from the lab and decided to make a break for it before they found you.”

Walt was shocked. How did this young man have any idea who he was? Apart from Salamanca and a few other individuals, no one knew his identity, and he was positive he had never met this person before.

“How in the hell do you know who I am?!” Walt demanded to know, his fear suddenly replaced with fury, “No one is supposed to-”

“I stuck into the lab one day,” he answered with a devious grin on his face, “Wanted to see who it was making our new choice product.”

“’Our’? Are you saying your part of the Salamanca family?” Walt asked, once again fearful.

The boy snorted. “Hell no. I’m at the bottom of the bottom. I’m just a runner, yo.”

Apparently sensing that Walt had absolutely no idea what in the hell that was, he rolled his eyes.

“A _runner_. I’m the one who carries their product. I sneak it in past city security, pass it on to dealers to sell on and shit.”

“Right, well, if you know who I am, then you realise why I’m in such a hurry to get away. I can’t afford to have the police drive by and question what I’m doing out here. Not when there’s a shootout happening several miles back.” Walt said, backing away towards his car.

“Well, I’m in the exact same position. If they find me, they’ll take me in for questioning.”

“Exactly. I can’t afford to be seen with someone like you,” Walt shot back, opening the car door.

“What, so you’re seriously gonna just leave me here?” the younger man asked, aghast, “It’s frickin freezing and I’m pretty sure my ribs are broken!”

Walt paused and sighed. “Look, either the DEA will drive by and arrest you or some kind stranger will pull up and take you to the hospital. But that’s not my problem,” Walt replied, far too concerned with his own wellbeing to care if he was coming across as callous.

“Hey, I can’t afford to go to no hospital, so none of those actions work for me, asshole.”

“Fine then, get whatever kind stranger who picks you up to drop you off somewhere in town,” he said, climbing into the car and closing the door behind.

“Hey, you’re the one who hit me with your car! Take some responsibility, bitch!” the young man yelled angrily.

Walt was ignoring him, buckling up his seatbelt when suddenly the other car door opened and the young man climbed in next to him.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing? Get out!” he yelled.

“Uh, yeah, prick, I ain’t gonna do that. You’re gonna take me home with you or wherever the hell it is you’re going.”

“And why in the world would I do that?” Walt asked incredulously. Clearly he had several screws loose if he thought Walt was going to be taking him anywhere, let alone his own home.

“Cause I know who you are, that’s why,” he said with a smirk, “And if you leave me here and the DEA picks me up, I’m gonna tell them exactly who you are.”

Walt narrowed his eyes. Who in the hell did this little shit think he was?

“You don’t even know my name.”

“I know you go by the like alias ‘Heisenberg’. That’s what Salamanca and his lackey’s call you, right?  And even if I didn’t know, I know what crappy car you drive and what you look like.”

“And why would the DEA believe anything you say?” Walt challenged, “You’re probably just some pathetic junkie who they know would say anything if meant cutting a deal.”

“I know that they’ve been searching for the guy who cooks that blue crystal for months now cause of how popular it is. And I hear it’s all they talk about down at the station. It’s a pretty big deal,” he said, the young man’s eyes bearing into him, “Do you really think they wouldn’t look into any possible leads no matter who it came from? Plus, tracing you down would be pretty damn easy for someone like me.”

Walt gritted his teeth. The little shit really was blackmailing him.

“You’re choice, asshole. But if I’m gonna end up in prison, I’m sure as hell making sure you end up there too. Hell, maybe if I cut a deal like you say, I won’t even have to do anytime.”

Walt truly wanted to reach out and strangle him for even daring to think he could do this to him. But although he had taken a step into the world of criminality, a murderer he was not, and having no idea if he would make good on his threat or not, Walt had no choice but to comply.

“Fine,” Walt relented, although obviously furious.

“Where are you going?” the young man asked.

“Home,” he answered, starting the engine up.

“Good. Take me with you.”

Walt immediately protested. “Can’t I just drop you off somewhere? I don’t want to bring a  stranger, some _criminal_ into my home!”

“Well, tough shit, cause that’s where you’re taking me. Now drive already.”

“Fine.”

As Walt started to drive, the young man grimaced loudly in pain to his ribs from the sudden movement, something which Walt took pleasure in at least.

And so with no choice and the snow falling ever heavier around them, Walt set off home with a criminal and complete stranger in tow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading. Comments and kudos are much appreciated, and I hope to have the next chapter out fairly soon. :)


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Walt had pulled up outside of his cabin, the young man was breathing heavily, clearly in a great deal of pain. Walt would have felt sorry for the boy if the little shit hadn’t been blackmailing him. As such, it was difficult to muster much sympathy for him when he was being placed in such a undesirable situation.

“We’re here,” said Walt unenthusiastically, as he got out of the car.

The boy meanwhile struggled to climb out of it and for a brief moment Walt considered helping him. Instead however, he walked on ahead, the young man following slowly after him through the snow.

With a deep sigh, Walt removed his boots and his snow-covered jacket, hanging it up on the small coatrack, which only his coat ever seemed to occupy. Skyler had visited him at the cabin a grand total of once since their separation and that had been only to hand over the divorce papers. Wanting to go as soon as possible, she hadn’t taken off her coat. She also hadn’t bothered to conjuring an excuse as why she was in a hurry that she had to leave so quickly.

Besides Skyler, the only other person who had visited him here had been Hank. And given that the cabin felt like it was in the middle of nowhere, it was isolating to say the least. Not that Walt much cared for people these days. The only people he wanted to be around was his family, which made the sudden presence of his unexpected ‘guest’ all the more frustrating.

“Take you shoes off before you come in,” Walt ordered brusquely when the boy finally made it to the doorstep.

He snorted but did as Walt asked, removing his sneakers, which Walt thought for walking through the snow were incredibly unpractical.

“And hurry up and close the door! You’re letting all the warm air out.”

“Are you kidding me? It’s just as cold in here as it is out there,” Walt heard the boy mutter under his breath.

“Uh, is this seriously where you live?” he asked glancing around, sounding far from impressed.

“Yes. Do you have a problem with that?” Walt shot back defensively, despite knowing full well that the cabin was small and shabby. It was liveable, but barely.

It hadn’t been occupied by anyone in years before he had bought it. Although it was a bit out the way, it had been cheap, which with all the money he was earning going towards his medical bills, had been crucial. Furthermore, he hadn’t expected to be staying here that long, and with that being the case, what would be the point in decorating the grungy place? No. He had expected to be here a few weeks at most, had presumed that Skyler would come to understand the reason for why he had started cooking meth, that he was doing it for her and the kids’ sake and so would forgive him, in turn welcoming him back home. Instead however, he felt like he had been exiled to the middle of nowhere, hidden from the world.

“I dunno,” Jesse replied with a shrug, although he clearly regretted the action if the sudden expression of pain on his face was anything to go by, “I guess I just figured given you’re a meth cook for the Salamanca’s you’d be making mad stacks, you know? Thought you’d live in like in a mansion or something. Or I don’t know, an actual house maybe? I mean, I get paid pretty nothing but I thought you’d at least-”

“I get paid just fine, thank you,” Walt retorted, still defensive, “I just so happens that I’ve had to use the money I’ve earned for other things.”

“What things?” he boy asked curiously.

“None of your damn business,” he chided, having no intention of sharing any information of his life with some criminal who had blackmailed his way into his home.

The boy scoffed before taking a seat on the unpleasantly beige and tattered sofa. “Fine, whatever. Like I give a shit what the hell you do with your money, asshole.”

“Now what?” Walt asked impatiently a minute or so later, “Are you just going to sit around?”

 “Geez, chill. I’m just resting for a sec,” he replied, rolling his eyes, “Fine, give me your phone then.”

“Why?” Walt asked suspiciously.

“Uh, to make a phone call, duh.”

Frustrated by the boy’s tone, Walt nevertheless obliged, pulling out of his pocket and handing him the cell phone he had claimed earlier not to have.

“And who exactly is it that you’re calling?”

“A guy,” he replied simply as if Walt didn’t need to know anymore that.

“A guy?” Walt repeated, “Well, I don’t want anyone knowing that you’re here, alright?”

“Uh, I’m afraid I’m gonna have to tell him. The guy I’m phoning is a doctor,” he said, pressing a series numbers.

“You’re having a doctor come here?” Walt asked incredulously.

“I told you, I can’t go to the hospital.”

“But-”

“Hey Saul, it’s me, Jesse Pinkman,” the boy spoke into the phone.

So that was his name, thought Walt. Not that he much cared of course.

“So, uh, some jackass hit me with his car so my ribs are pretty banged up,” he said, pointedly glaring at Walt, “I need you to come check me out.”

“Yeah, yeah. Hey, what’s the address of this place?” he asked, glancing up at Walt for confirmation.

Reluctantly, Walt gave him the address, although if given the correct directions it would be hard to mistake the cabin with somewhere else seeing that it was the only one around for several miles or so in each direction.

“Yeah, it’s a crappy little cabin in the middle of nowhere. Just follow that road up the hill and you should find it. Oh, and my cell’s busted so use this number if you get lost and need to call, kay?”

Great, Walt thought, another complete stranger would know where he lived as well as having his phone number.

The boy handed Walt back the phone.

“What exactly kind of doctor is it who’s coming?”

“What’d you mean?” Jesse asked, confused.

Walt sighed. “I mean, you obviously didn’t make a call to any health or emergency services. And you called him Saul. Is this person an actual doctor?”

“Of course he is!” The pausing, said, “Or well, he don’t think he has an actual medical license but he-”

“If he doesn’t have a medical license then he is clearly _not_ a doctor,” Walt retorted, disbelievingly.

“He is a doctor! He’s just a back-alley one. For a fee he’ll fix you up, even perform minor operations as long as you have the cash to pay him. He’s pretty much the go to guy for a lot of the gangs around here.”

“You mean criminals. And you want me to allow someone like that into my house? I could have the DEA show up on my door any moment and if they find you here and some criminal underground doctor then-”

“Yo, you already said that no one apart from Hector Salamanca knows who you are. And it’s coming down pretty heavy out there,” the boy said, gesturing to the window, “The snow’ll have covered the tracks from your car by now. Plus this place is like in the middle of nowhere. Seriously are you like a hermit or something?”

Walt sighed heavily, running his hand over his head.

“When will he get here?”

“I dunno. When he gets here.”

“ _Great_.”

“Hey, I’m the one in massive amounts of pain, you know. No thanks to you.”

“It was an accident. And again, you were the _one_ who ran out into the middle of the road,” he argued, finding the need to defend himself once again.

The young man ignored him however, instead asking if he had any painkillers.

“Shouldn’t you wait until that fake doctor you just called at least looks over you first?”

“I have no idea when he’s going to show up,” he said, then slightly pleadingly, “Seriously, I’m in a lot of pain, yo.”

Feeling more and more put out by the minute, Walt went to the bathroom to fetch some aspirin. He had some stronger stuff leftover from his cancer treatment but there was no way he was wasting it on the young man out there. Besides, the doctor would arrive soon – God, Walt hoped so anyway – and prescribe him something just as strong so really it would be a waste. He could however at least spare some aspirin.

Being more hospitable than the boy no doubt deserved, Walt went to the kitchen and also fetched him a glass of water.

“Here,” Walt said, handing him two aspirin and the glass.

“Uh, thanks,” he replied, at least having the decency to thank him as he took them.

“Drink slowly now,” Walt found himself saying, apparently, all his years of being a father kicking in. Not that this hooligan was like his son, Junior in any way.

He looked slightly pained as he drank. Afterwards, he handed the glass back to Walt and leant back into his couch, one arm carefully wrapped around his ribs as he did so.

“Hopefully they should kick in soon enough, and at least do you until your so-called doctor gets here,” said Walt and with nothing to do but wait, Walt eventually gave up on standing and sat down on the sofa, albeit right at the other end.

“So, uh, my name is Jesse. Jesse Pinkman,” the boy said a few minutes later as if he were trying to make conversation with him.

Walt simply nodded acknowledging but didn’t reply, hoping to make it clear that he in no way wanted to engage in conversation.

“Uh, so what’s your name?” Jesse asked after another minute or so had passed, “I know you go by ‘Heisenberg’ but I’m guessing you have an actual name, right?”

Inwardly he sighed. Apparently, he hadn’t gotten it and so Walt simply answered with, “White.”

“White what?” Jesse asked confused.

“Just White.”

“Just White?”

“ _Mr._ White. It’s my surname, and that’s all you need to know,” Walt said coldly.

“What the hell is your problem? I already know what you do for a living and where you stay. Is telling me your name that big a deal?”

“Yes, it is, _actually_. You’re a criminal and I don’t want someone like you knowing anything more about me than what’s necessary.”

“Are you kidding me?” Jesse asked, incredulously, “You’re a criminal as well! What the hell gives you the right to act so goddamn high and mighty? Sure, I smuggle crystal and occasionally even sell, but you’re the one who actually cooks the shit! You’re the guy providing hundreds of people with their next fix, asshole. And, seriously, if it wasn’t because of what I am, you’d be facing like double the prison time I would be! So don’t pretend to be some moral law-abiding citizen cause you’re just as much a criminal as I am!”

“Everything I’ve done these past few months, I’ve done to provide for my family! It may be viewed as criminal act but my reasons are pure,” Walt retorted angrily, “But what about you exactly? What are you doing this job for? Purely for yourself? To get your next fix?”

“Hell yeah, I’m doing this for myself! Cause if I didn’t have this job I’ve have starved and died in this shithole world long ago.”

“Surely you could have found a different line of work?” Walt challenged. While there wasn’t a great deal of jobs out there, especially at the moment, surely if the boy had just put his mind to it and applied himself he would have found something.

Jesse snorted. “Really? And what about you? What makes you so frickin special that the same doesn’t apply to you, bitch?”

“Like I said, I took this job to provide for my family, as well as to cover my medical bills! I had no choice!”

The boy was glaring at him. “Yeah, well, I had no choice either. It was this job or nothing. But I wouldn’t expect a privileged prick like you to understand.”

Walt resented the accusation of being privileged greatly.  Never once in his life would Walt have counted himself privileged. For his entire adult life, he had to skimp and scrape just to get by, had lost out on numerous opportunities in which had he had been able to take them would have given him and his family a far better quality of life; the kind of life that they deserved. Instead Walt, despite his great intellect had been reduced to taking a position of a chemistry teacher for a subpar high school which was lucky if even half the student body graduated. And as soon as he had gotten sick, unable to even afford to cover his salary during his time off as well as pay a substitute chemistry teacher, they had expected him to go unpaid during his absence, treating it as if the time he would be taking off was for some fancy vacation and not because his body was literally eroding from the inside. To him it was unacceptable and after seventeen years, without any thanks, Walt had suddenly found himself out of a job.

To cover his medical bills and provide for his family, becoming a meth cook had truly been his only option. And so, for this little shit who had forced himself into his home to suggest otherwise was infuriating. They were absolutely nothing alike. Walt was doing what had to be done for his family, purely altruistic reasons, while the young man next to him was doing it solely for himself.

Resisting the urge to lash out at him, Walt switched on the television, hoping to distract himself from the situation and the boy’s presence. Jesse’s laboured breathing however made it difficult to concentrate, the young man clearly in a great deal of pain. But again Walt wasn’t going to waste any of his good pain medication on him and so he turned the volume right up, resolving to ignore the sound.

 

A good couple of hours passed when finally, there was a loud knock on the door and Walt found himself quickly tensing up.

“That should be Saul,” said Jesse, the first word out of him since their heated exchange. And while Walt hoped that was the case, a fear filled him that it was actually the DEA; that on the other side of the door would be Hank or one of his colleagues standing there wanting to question and interrogate him.

As such, Walt found himself approaching the door with great trepidation, shakily reaching for the doorknob, unsure what to expect on the other side.

When he did open the door, he came face to face with a man carrying a large leather bag who right away, Walt could somehow tell wasn’t a DEA agent.

“Good day there, sir. I’m Doctor Saul Goodman,” the man greeted, “A Jesse Pinkman wouldn’t happen to be here?”

“Yo, Saul, I’m in here!” cried Jesse from the sofa.

“Ah, and there’s my patient,” said the man, brushing past him and entering his home without his permission. He took off his coat and hung it up. Underneath it the man was wearing a ridiculously coloured flamboyant suit and tie, certainly something no respectable doctor Walt had ever met would wear.

Before he could say anything, the doctor wandered over to Jesse, not bothering to remove his shoes and thus subsequently getting snow all over the floor.

Frowning and unable to do much else, with much frustration, Walt closed the door.

“Hey, kid, you weren’t lying about this place being in the middle of nowhere and believe me in this weather it wasn’t exactly easy to find either.”

 Anyway, what seems to be the problem, Young Master Pinkman?” the fake Doctor asked, bending down next to him, “You sure you should have called me and not a vet?”

Jesse shot him a glare.

“That was a joke, kid, no offence intended.”

Walt had no idea what he was going on about. Was this man honestly a doctor?

“Like I said on the phone, my ribs are all busted up. Some asshole,” he said, glaring eyes switching to rest on Walt, “Hit me with his car.”

“A hit and run, huh?”

“Nah, that’s the guy who hit me,” Jesse replied, gesturing to Walt.

Walt snorted, and again feeling the need to defend himself, said, “He ran into the middle of the road. He should be grateful he wasn’t killed.”

Jesse rolled his eyes.

“Hey, you don’t have to convince me. As long as I get paid,” Saul said with a shrug, then, “Well, let’s see the damage.”

With that, no doubt in pain, if the grunting sounds he made were anything to go by, Jesse took off his hoodie, along with another garment underneath it and a t-shirt, revealing a pale and rather bruised chest which would no doubt soon look even worse in appearance. Walt suddenly found himself surprised at how incredibly thin the boy was under his large baggy clothes, looking very much as if he hadn’t eaten a proper meal in months. As such, despite fully believing it not to be his fault for what happened, Walt couldn’t help but feel slightly sorry for him. Clearly, despite the illegal nature of his job, it didn’t pay well.

“Yep, a few of those are definitely broken,” confirmed the doctor, touching them gently causing Jesse to wince.

He then proceeded to lightly wrap some bandages around his ribs.

“If you need to rewrap these, don’t make them too tight, constricts the airways and all that jazz.”

For some reason he was looking at Walt as he said so as if he for whatever reason he would be the one taking care of Jesse.

“Any pain in your legs?” Saul asked.

Jesse shook his head. “They feel fine.”

“Alright then, just need to check your skull,” Saul said, moving to take Jesse’s hat off.

The boy immediately tensed however, his arms shooting to his head and pressing the beanie against his skull almost as if protecting himself.

“It-it’s fine!” he quickly said, “You don’t need to…”

“Hey, I wouldn’t be doing my job right, kid, if I didn’t at least check for head wounds. You could have a concussion without even knowing it. And believe me that is a dangerous thing.”

Jesse frowned, looking very much as if he wanted to protest. “Fi-Fine,” he said weakly, “Let me though…”

Walt wasn’t sure exactly what the problem was until Jesse removed the beanie, revealing a pair of dog ears located near the top of his head instead of what should have been normal human ears.

And unable to stop himself, Walt gasped, declaring, “You-You’re a mutt!”

Jesse winced, not responding.

“What, you didn’t tell him?” Saul asked Jesse, sounding somewhat amused, “Is this one of those surprise reveals?”

Walt could hardly believe it; a mutt right here in his _own_ home.

Jesse stared down at his knees, again silent.

Walt had absolutely no idea that the boy was one of _them_. And suddenly it made sense, something he had said earlier that Walt in his rage hadn’t registered, ‘If it wasn’t because of what I am, you’d be facing like double the prison time I would be!’ and Saul’s comments about seeing a vet instead. Walt had thought the man had just had a warped sense of humour…

While it hadn’t been that he had never come across a mutt in his fifty years alive, he had certainly never engaged in conversation or had any meaningful interactions with one. The mutts he had encountered he only had only seen out of his car window during the times he had to travel through less that reputable parts of the city. He remembered Junior as a young boy being terribly frightened of them. Their appearance had been rather large and intimidating and the seemed brutal and vicious, something of which the one before him didn’t certainly project. The boy before him seemed small and fragile almost, even by normal human standards.

“I can’t see any cuts or bruises. You sure you didn’t feel any knocks or pain to it?” the doctor asked.

“No, nothing,” Jesse insisted, his eyes still downcast.

“Your tail okay? Although, again, that’s more a vet’s job.”

“It’s fine!” Jesse insisted, his hands defensively reaching behind him.

Oh God, Walt thought. As well as those ears, there would be a tail underneath those incredibly baggy pants he was wearing.

“Okay, okay, just doing my job, kid,” Saul placated him, “Right, now, this is what I’m gonna prescribe you for the pain…”

Walt noted that the boy seemed to perk up at that, listening to the series of medication the doctor was prescribing for him.

Walt couldn’t help but feel somewhat stupid for not having guessed what the young man was before. After all, when he focused closely he could see the enlarged incisors, too sharp to belong to any normal human.

From his large bag, Saul took out several boxes of different medications. Again, Walt felt he shouldn’t have been surprised that he had the stuff on him. After all, given that technically he wasn’t a licensed doctor, it wasn’t like he could prescribe anything…

After telling him when to take such medication, he pulled out a small notepad and after quickly writing something on it, handed it to Jesse. “And this is your bill.”

Jesse face fell the moment he read the number written on it. “Seriously?”

“You know my services and the meds don’t come cheap.”

“All I have right now is this,” said Jesse, uncomfortably reaching over for his hoodie and taking out a small pile of cash from one of the pocket.

Saul took it from him and quickly sifted through it. And with a an unimpressed look stated, “You know that this doesn’t even cover half of it.”

“It’s all I could grab before the-”

“Yeah, I heard about the DEA bust. Tough break, kid. You got somewhere to stay? I wouldn’t recommend doing anything strenuous with those broken ribs of yours. Of course, given that you now owe me money…”

“I’ll figure something out,” Jesse hurriedly said, “Plus, you know I’m totally good for it.”

“I ain’t running a charity service.”

“Come on, you owe me for the stuff I snatched from that hospital,” Jesse urged, pleadingly.

“If I remember correctly, I paid you for that in full.”

“Hardly…” Walt thought he heard Jesse mutter under his breath.

“Yo, once I’m all healed up, I’ll break into another place for you. I’ll even take a discount for the job.”

Saul took a moment to think the offer over, before saying, “Fine. Being the generous, kind hearted man I am, I’ll take you up on that. But I still want to be paid in full.”

“Of course, like I said, I’m totally good for it.”

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me what you are?” Walt suddenly found himself yelling, angry at being ignored.

“Cause I figured you’d act like an even bigger asshole than what you already have been. Besides, it’s not like I make a habit of going out of my way to tell people what I am,” Jesse replied, a hand instinctively going to one of his ears.

“Well, I deserve to know, especially when it comes to letting you in my house.”

“You didn’t want me in your house even before you knew what I am. Besides, I’m house trained. It’s not like I’m gonna take a dump on your floor or bite you or something,” Jesse said with a snort, although there seemed to be a hint of self-deprecation in his voice.

“This seems to be something for just the two of you to discuss, so I’m going to get going already,” said Saul, lifting up his bag, “Hopefully your ribs will heal within the next four weeks, six tops. If you need to a top up on those meds, give me a call. But don’t even think of trying to wrangle some out of me if you don’t have the cash, alright?”

Heading to the door, he approached Walt and reached out to shake his hand. Very reluctantly, Walt took it.

“Well, it was nice to meet you, Mr.-”

“White,” Walt supplied, as with Jesse having no desire to share his full name.

“Alright then, _Mr. White_. If you find yourself experiencing a medical emergency that you’d like kept hush-hush, off the record, here is my card,” he said, handing it to him, “Call me anytime.”

Then before leaving, “Later, kid!”

Jesse sighed, “Yeah, bye,” he said weakly, although given Saul was already out of the door, it was unlikely that he had heard him.

Walt looked at the words ‘Medical Professional’, typed underneath his name and scoffed, tossing the card aside.

However, even with the questionable doctor gone, it didn’t change the fact that he still had another unwelcomed person in his home.

“Couldn’t you have gotten a ride with him and be gone already?” Walt asked, not bothering to mask the irritation in his voice.

“Nope.”

“Fine, then when do you plan on leaving? I did what you asked, I brought you here, you had someone look over you and bandage you up. As far as I see it, my role is now over. All that’s left if for you to go. I’ll even call and pay for a cab of that’s what it takes.”

“Uh, yeah, there’s kind of a bit of an issue with that…” the boy said awkwardly, and for a moment, Walt thought he saw the mutt’s ears move slightly, “I don’t actually have anywhere to go.”

“What do you mean you don’t have anywhere to go?” Walt asked, not liking where this was heading, “Surely, you have a place that you stay and sleep?”

“I did, but considering the DEA just raided it, I can’t really go back.”

It took a moment for it to click. “You actually lived in that warehouse?”

While Walt himself only saw a small part of the warehouse, mainly his makeshift lab, he definitely couldn’t see it as being a particularly pleasant place to live. Even his cabin had to be better than such a dreary and grey, concrete environment…

“They let me sleep there and stuff in exchange for being their runner. I still got paid, but not much. Not enough to buy or even rent my own place anyway, “ Jesse told him.

“And you don’t have any place else you could go?”

Jesse shook his head. “Pretty much.”

Walt sighed deeply. All he wanted to do was to go to bed, sleep and forget this entire mess had even happened.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not exactly sure how that is my problem. Like I said, _I did_ , what you asked,” Walt stated sternly, “What happens to you from here on out is none of my concern.”

“Come on! My ribs are broken and it’s super cold out there! I’ll like freeze to death in that snow. Just let me stay for a little bit, please?” the boy asked pleadingly.

A mutt staying in his house? That was out of the question and even if wasn’t one, it didn’t change the fact that the boy was still a criminal.

“Absolutely not.”

“Please, it’d just be for a few weeks, just till my ribs heal and then I’ll leave. I’ll even pay you like rent and stuff for letting me stay.”

“How exactly?” Walt questioned, “From what I can tell you’re out of a job and you owe that Saul Goodman God knows how much.”

“As soon as I’m better, I’ll get another job then I’ll be able to pay both you and Saul back.”

Walt scoffed.

“Seriously, the Salamanca’s ain’t the only gang in this shithole city. I can even do some work for Saul.”

“What, stealing drugs from hospitals?”

“If I have too… Come on, I’m totally good for it, I swear.”

“Considering you concealed what you are from me, how can I possibly believe a word you say?” said Walt, unable to stop staring at the boy’s ears which happened to be a slightly lighter shade than his hair.

“You’re out of a job now and you need the money, right? For like, what you said, your family and medical bills and stuff? Just let me stay until my ribs are healed then I’ll leave and pay you back.”

“I can’t risk my family seeing you.”

“What, they actually live here?” Jess asked, glancing around.

“No, they don’t _live_ here. They’re…” Again, Walt had no desire to tell the mutt anything regarding his life, “They’re currently living elsewhere, but they come by to visit regularly. And if they see you they’ll ask questions.”

“I’ll just hide or like wait out in the back!” Jesse replied anxiously, “I swear I won’t let them see me. They won’t know I’m here, promise.”

Damnit, Walt thought. What would it take for the mutt to leave?

“I’m sorry, I just can’t allow it. It’s out of the question,” said Walt hoping that the finality in his voice would stop the mutt’s pleading.

“They’ll pick me up if they find me sleeping on the street. The police. They’ll realise what I am and start questioning me and shit, even if they think I haven’t done anything wrong. Maybe even throw me in jail.”

While it was true that most people didn’t look at that mutts fondly, the police particularly had a special hatred towards them. Walt had no doubt if they caught one of Jesse’s kind sleeping on the street, he would definitely be picked up.  Nevertheless, Walt still didn’t feel that was his problem.

“That’s unfortunate, but like I said-”

“So I was thinking to get them to lay up on me, I’d tell them something they’d be real interested in knowing,” Jesse interrupted, “Like maybe the location of the guy who’s being cooking that blue meth that’s got the DEA so worked up.”

Among realising that the mutt was once again threatening to blackmail him, Walt’s face fully contorted in anger. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Hey, you ain’t giving me a choice man! It’s better than starving to death on the streets or being thrown in jail! Seriously, you don’t know how bad it is out there, yo!”

“And like I told you before, that is not my problem!”

“Besides,” he began smugly, “You have absolutely no proof. It’s your word against mine. And given what you are, who do you think they’ll believe, a fine upstanding citizen like myself with a family, or some pathetic delinquent, junkie mutt?”

The mutt’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe, but I bet you don’t want your family knowing or being dragged into this. If they have any suspicions at all, they’ll totally question them as well, like knowing where you got the money to pay for your medical bills.”

Walt immediately tensed. Skyler… She knew what he did. In exchange for Walt moving out, she had agreed not to go to the police. She also hadn’t wanted Junior knowing that his father was involved in something illegal. And while Walt hoped that her desire to conceal the truth from their kids was strong enough to prevent her from saying anything if questioned by the police, in the end, would she be able to stand up to the barrage of questions?  Not to mention there was Hank…

Surely, Hank would see it was a ridiculous accusation, would never believe that Walt of all people would be involved in something like that, in which case he’d be a prime candidate for vouching for his innocence. But then again, what if he started to question why the mutt had locked onto the idea of Walt, again, of people as being the Salamanca’s meth cook? Walt had no prior connection to the boy after all.

Walt had originally told Skyler that the money had come from some old friends, Gretchen and Elliot Schwartz, that they were the ones covering his medical bills. And while Skyler now knew this to be no longer true, Hank and his wife, Marie, Skyler’s sister, still believed it to be the case. It was convenient, very much so, and like Skyler initially, Hank and Marie had accepted it without question, just thankful that Walt was able to pay for his cancer treatment. But if Hank started to question the convivence, started to properly look into it…

While there was no money trail to link Walt back to Hector Salamanca, having always been paid in cash, if Hank for whatever reason happened to enquire about his bank details, it would be made clear that Walt himself had deposited the money, that there were no cheques coming in from the Schwartz’s to cover his treatment.  And while it seemed highly unlike that it would ever come to it, if they did take Jesse’s accusation seriously, if Skyler was honest with the police when questioned…

And suddenly Walt was hit by the infuriating realisation that he had no choice but to comply to the mutt’s demands; that he let him stay here.

 “You little shit,” he spat, “Fine, you can stay here. But the moment your ribs are healed, you leave. And I don’t want to see you ever again.”

“You won’t,” replied Jesse, looking incredibly relieved, “After I’ve paid you back, I’ll be out of your life, forever. I promise.”

“I’m going to bed,” stated Walt, turning his back to him “You can sleep on the sofa or the floor.”

“Cool, um, thanks. You won’t even like know I’m here.”

Walt didn’t believe that for a second. After all, how could he possibly ignore some strange criminal mutt sleeping in his living room?

“Uh, you don’t happen to have a blanket or something do you? It’s kinda cold.”

Walt seriously thought the mutt was pushing it, but out of the deepest regions of his closet, he pulled out an old worn blanket that Walt could only assume was left by the previous owner.

It was filled with dust, and coughing, Walt tossed it down in front of Jesse. “There.”

“Thanks.”

And with that, he returned to his bedroom, slamming the door shut, and ridding himself of his clothes, climbed into bed, hoping desperately that the entire day had all been just a dream and that the mutt lying on his sofa would no longer exist in the morning.

Of course, Walt was never that lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels so strange writing Saul as a doctor and not a lawyer as it's such an integral part of his character, but I really wanted Saul to be part of this fic so I suppose instead of a _criminal_ laywer he is a _criminal_ doctor here. And like his clinetele in Breaking Bad he still has a lot of shady ones so I suppose there are similarities. Anyway, expect him to show up again at some point, but for now it is Walt and Jesse alone in the cabin.
> 
> Thank you very much to everyone who has commented and left kudos so far. I wasn't sure how well the setting would be received so I was pretty nervous. ^^;; 
> 
> Anyway I hope you continue to enjoy. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Despite wanting nothing more than to sleep, Walt lay awake for several hours, fears that he would be discovered, that the DEA would show up at his door, circling his mind over and over again. Eventually however, exhaustion won over and he did fall asleep, sleeping into early afternoon. It was quite cold when he awoke, no wood having been placed in the fire to feed it from the night before. Wrapping his covers tighter around him, he rolled over in bed and picked up his cell, showing that he had five missed calls from Skyler. Any lingering fatigue promptly disappeared as he quickly sat up and called Skyler.

She answered right away.

“Skyler, is everything okay?” he asked, panicked.

“I don’t know, Walt. Why don’t you tell me?” she answered sounding angry, not an uncommon tone of voice for her these days but enough that Walt was on edge.

“I just had Marie on the phone, and it came up in conversation that Hank was involved in a major drug bust last night. That wouldn’t have anything to do with who your-”

“No, of course not,” Walt automatically lied, “I well… I actually got out of the business.”

“Really?” Skyler echoed dubiously.

“Yes, yes. About a week ago, in fact. I realised that I’d made enough money to cover my medical bills and to provide for you and the kids, and, I well, thought hard about what you said before and so decided to leave. I figured it was for the best,” Walt said, before worry once again overtook him, “Why? Did, uh, Hank say something to Marie?”

“Should he have?”

“No, of course not…”

Skyler sighed. “I just wanted to know that you were safe, and that I won’t have any police officers knocking on my door asking questions about you. They didn’t seem to catch the person who did the cooking, but since you got out of the business and it wouldn’t have anything to do with you…

For a moment, Walt thought about telling Skyler if they did show up, not to say anything but he immediately reconsidered. There was no sense in getting her unnecessarily worried after all.

“How are the kids?” Walt asked, hoping to change the subject.

“They’re fine,” Skyler replied simply, not expanding.

“Hey, it’s been awhile since I came over for dinner, how about tonight?” Walt suggested hopefully.

“I already have dinner in. There’s not enough for-”

“Tomorrow, then,” he quickly said, “I could even cook or bring-”

“No, Walt. Not yet.”

“I deserve to see my kids,” Walt retorted, his voice becoming desperate and angry.

“You’re not exactly in any position to make demands, Walt,” Skyler shot back, “Once I’m sure things are safe, then I’ll let you see them.”

“I already told you, you and the kids are completely separate from the business. Not that it matters, because I’m out of it now.”

“Considering you lied to me for two whole months, excuse me if I’m not willing to just automatically take your word for it.”

Walt opened his mouth to protest but no words came out. He heard Skyler sigh once more on the other end of the phone.

“I was calling to see if you were alright, and you clearly are, so I’m going to go.”

“Skyler, wait!” he urged. But it was too late, she had already hung up.

Walt threw his phone to floor in frustration. No matter what he said, he couldn’t seem to get through to Skyler.

“Our marriage is over, Walt,” she had said, the day she kicked him out of the house.

All this time, Walt had ignored her words, wanting to believe it was said only in a moment of anger and confusion. But as the days and weeks went by, her words seemed to hold more and more truth.

Perhaps it really was over…

Walt lay down again, unwilling to face the day quite yet. He slept for several more hours.

 

When, Walt woke up, it was after five. He groaned. It was even colder than before and he was hungry as well.

Blearily, he put on his glasses and picked up his robe from the floor before walking out of his bedroom to the living room. It took him a few moments to register that someone else was there. Lying slightly upright on the couch from the night before was the young man he had accidentally hit with his car and who had subsequently blackmailed him into bringing him home and letting him stay here tell he recovered. Oh, and he also happened to be a mutt.

“Yo,” the boy greeted. Walt ignored him however as he wandered over to the small fireplace.

“You were asleep for a long time. I thought you might have died in there or something, till I heard you snoring.”

The boy was wearing all his garments again, including his beanie which hid his abnormal ears from view. For a brief moment, Walt wondered if it was painful pulling back on all those clothes with those broken ribs of his.

“Man, it’s cold in here huh?” the mutt said, tugging at his yellow hoodie, “I, uh, would have like put wood in the fire but I figured you’d get all pissed off if I touched your stuff.”

He had figured correctly. Although, in this case, Walt thought he wouldn’t have minded a little warmth given how cold it was.

Once the fire came to life, Walt stood there for several minutes in front of it to warm himself up. Despite, being small, the cabin didn’t keep the cold out too well.

Walt glanced out the window. While it was no longer snowing, the depth of it showed that it had snowed well into the night. Travelling would definitely be a hazard, not that he had anywhere to go, now once again out of a job, as well as being forbidden from visiting his family. 

Inwardly, he sighed before heading to the tiny kitchen to make himself something which counted as breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“You making food?” the mutt asked hopefully, his head turned to face him.

“I suppose as well as accommodation, you’ll be wanting fed regularly as well, then?” said Walt bitterly as he took out a large can of beans from the cupboard.

“Well, I kinda need to eat… But like I said, I’ll totally pay you back for whatever I have.”

Walt scoffed disbelievingly as he placed several slices of bread on the counter. “Of course you, will…”

Jesse frowned. “I will pay you back!” he declared, clearly annoyed that Walt didn’t believe him.

“Considering you’re blackmailing me, forgive me if I don’t automatically take your word for it.”

The mutt opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to protest before closing it.

“Hey, do you have any like, Funyans?” he asked, a couple of minutes later.

“Any what?” Walt asked, confused.

“Funyuns. They’re potato chips. They’re awesome. You ain’t gotta cook for me. I can just have eat instead, you know.”

“Well, I don’t have any potato chips,” Walt answered, gruffly, turning on the stove.

“That’s too bad. I can basically like live on them.”

Walt didn’t know how anyone could possibly live on potato chips alone. Although it may account for the boy’s size, he thought, remembering how shocked he had been when seeing how thin and frail he looked underneath his oversized clothing; almost emaciated. While Walt had made thousands upon thousands of dollars in the past several months, clearly the boy got paid pittance if that’s mostly what his diet consisted of.

Walt quickly shut the thought process down however, realising that the mutt’s circumstances was none of his concern.

Threatening not to give him any food would no doubt result in another blackmail attempt so that wasn’t an option. As such, the only other choice was to feed the boy, hope he recovered quickly, then he could leave and Walt would never have to see him again. And so Walt begrudgingly cooked enough beans and toast for the two of them.

“This is good,” said Jesse, as he sat eating at the small counter across from Walt. Bending over to use his knife and fork to cut at the toast proved too difficult because of the pain in his ribs and so Jesse ate the pieces of toast and beans separately, munching intermittently at the toast while scooping the beans up with his fork.

“Thanks, Mr. White,” he added, surprising Walt. Walt wasn’t sure what was particularly good about them. The bread had been stale, the taste only slightly masked through being toasted, and beans were…well beans. Still, something about hearing ‘Mr. White’ reminded Walt of his time as a teacher, as if it was one of his students talking to him.

Of course, none of his students had been mutts. Nevertheless, he gave a small grunt, to acknowledge that he’d heard him.

“I wonder how many people died in the shootout between the Salamanca’s and the DEA,” Walt heard Jesse say far too casually from behind him as he made a start on the dishes, “It’d be pretty awesome if they’d basically wiped each other out.”

“The DEA were just doing their job,” Walt replied, feeling the need to defend them because of Hank.

“Yeah, well, because of those assholes I’m out of a job _and_ a place to live.”

“And yet, you hope they wiped out the Salamanca’s as well?” questioned Walt, surprised.

“I don’t know how they treated you, what with you being their prized meth cook or whatever, but they were complete dicks to most everyone else. Especially me cause-”

The boy stopped and Walt glanced over his shoulder to see him frowning, staring down at his knees, the same way he had after Walt had discovered what he was.

 “Whatever,” said Jesse, scratching the back of his head, “If I’m gonna be out of a job and a place to stay from them, then those bastards may as well die or at least rot in prison, yo.”

Walt noticed that both times he hadn’t used the word ‘home’. Not that an old warehouse like that could really be considered such.

Just as he was about to make a start on drying the plates, Walt was stuck with an awful realisation, filled with instant panic.

“Jesse!” he yelled, turning around, the suddenness alarming the boy. It had also been the first time he had ever used his name.

“Wh-What? What’s wrong?” Jesse asked, surprised.

“Hector Salamanca and his crew, they wouldn’t…”

Jesse had threatened to tell the DEA who he was if he didn’t allow him to stay here until he had recovered, had told him that if he got picked up by them he could cut a deal to get a reduced sentence or even avoid prison altogether. And while only a few of Hector Salamanca’s men knew who he was, who was to say they wouldn’t try to cut a deal with the DEA just as Jesse had threatened to.

However, as soon he voiced his concerns, the boy burst out laughing.

Anger welled up in Walt. How dare the little shit laugh at him? This was his life after all!

And just as he was about to yell, Jesse said, “There’s absolutely no way in hell that would ever happen. You’re completely safe, Mr. White.”

“What do you mean?” Walt questioned, confused.

Jesse sighed as if Walt was being an idiot. It pissed him off but he decided to at least wait to hear what he had to say.

“Because gangs like the Salamanca despise the cops, especially the DEA. They’d rather be tortured or even die than cooperate with the police.”

“They really hate them that much?” Walt asked disbelievingly. Even, if he hated someone, he would still willingly divulge information if it meant escaping a life in prison...

“Well, considering what gangs like the Salamanca’s deal in, the cops are like their worst enemies. Even with rival gangs, the Don’s have a whole courtesy thing going on. If they catch someone from another gang selling in their territory, they at least call a meeting to talk it over and try and find some resolution. It ain’t like an instant bloodbath, although sometimes it turns out that way. But at the end of the day, it’s a matter of respect,” Jesse explained, “But they don’t have anything like that with the cops. With them, there’d be absolutely nothing to talk over.”

“But surely if you were desperate enough, you’d take the opportunity? You’d try make some kind of deal.” Walt challenged, still not entirely convinced.

“There’d be no point. Not only would they have betrayed Don Hector and the other family members, but they would just wind up dead in a ditch somewhere a couple of days later.”

“Dead? But-”

“It’s a whole honour thing, yo. Seriously, do you know nothing about how the cartel works?”

“I cooked for them, that’s all. I had no other association with them or their, well, ways…” replied Walt, feeling the need to defend himself, although if he was defending his involvement or lack of knowledge, he was unsure.

“Yeah, well, anyway, Don Hector would take having a snitch in his ranks as a massive affront. Even if he did escape a prison sentence, an assassin would show up and kill the dude who snitched within a matter of days. And believe me, it’d be really fucking brutal. Like torture and shit.”

“An assassin?” Walt exclaimed, “Would they really go that far?”

“Uh, hell yeah. Honour and family is like a huge thing with those guys.”

Walt frowned. “And your positive none of Hector’s men will reveal who I am?”

“Pretty sure. Plus, you were only known to Don Hector’s closest men, right?”

Walt nodded.

“Then you’re pretty much safe. If they betrayed him then the lives of their families would be put on the line as well.”

Walt let out a sigh of relief. Surely a decent man wouldn’t place his family under such risk, and while he didn’t trust the mutt, he seemed thoroughly convinced that Walt was safe. The relief was only momentary however as something dawned on him.

“Wait. What about you? You blackmailed me! You threatened to tell the DEA who I am!”

“Uh, yeah, well, I’m just a runner. I ain’t considered part of the Salamanca family. As far as those assholes are concerned, I’m part of like an alien species. I may have worked for them but I sure as hell wasn’t considered one of them.”

The with a grin, Jesse said, “Sorry, they pretty much wouldn’t give a shit if I snitched on you or not.”

Walt bristled, thinking for a moment if only he had hit one of Salamanca’s men with his car instead, but almost as if sensing what he was thinking, Jesse said somewhat mockingly, “If you had hit one of Salamanca’s dude’s instead they would have probably pulled a gun on you you, got them to drive you to where they wanted to go and then when they were done with you maybe even put a cap in your old ass just to be safe, so believe me, you should be like thankful that I was the one who you hit with your car.”

Walt shot him a glare before returning to doing the dishes. He certainly didn’t feel thankful. The exact opposite, actually.

 

With no job to go to, and an unwelcome stranger in his home, Walt found himself sleeping a great deal the next several days.

Walt watched TV and slept, rarely engaging with the mutt who had managed to wrangle himself into his home. Intermittently he would get up to make food for him and the mutt, but Jesse never complained about the infrequency of it, almost as if he was just grateful to eat something, thanking him after every meal. Who knew a mutt could be capable of such manners?

“Ugh, I’m bored. TV is great and all but don’t you have like some videogames or something?” Jesse whined from the sofa as Walt made lunch.

“Do I look like the kind of person who plays videogames?” Walt shot back.

“Yeah, but you have kids, right?” Jesse asked, twisting in his seat to look back at Walt as much as his healing ribs would allow.

Walt immediately tensed at the mention of his family. God, he missed them…

“My daughter is far too young for videogames and my son has much better things to spend his time on than pointless nonsense.”

It was a lie. His son loved videogames. What teenage boy didn’t?

“It ain’t pointless! It’s fun,” the mutt defended, “But I guess a guy with a huge stick up his ass wouldn’t know about that concept.”

“Well, you know, the guy with the huge stick up his ass is the one currently making you lunch and he has half a mind to throw your share of food in the garbage,” Walt retorted, Jesse appearing shocked by the threat.

“I’m just saying is all,” Jesse huffed as he turned back around to face the TV.

Nevertheless, despite his threat, Walt didn’t throw the food out. Having spent most of his life struggling to get by, he doubted he could willingly be so wasteful of food. The mutt probably felt the same way if the expression on his face had been anything to go by. Still the thought had been rather tempting…

As always, once they had finished, Jesse thanked him for the meal.

“Your welcome,” Walt replied condescendingly.

He thought he heard the mutt mutter ‘asshole’ under his breath, but he let it go, feeling for once that he had gotten the upper hand.

However, that was quickly shattered when Jesse asked, “Where are your family, anyway?”

“What?”

“You said that your family came by to visit you regularly, right? But I haven’t see them.”

Walt frowned. “They’ve been… I told them not to drop by for the next while. That I’ve been busy.”

“You didn’t need to do that, yo!” Jesse declared, putting his fork down, “Like I said, I could hide out the back. Even with my ribs broken, I’m still pretty fast.”

“Well, I don’t want to take the risk of them seeing you,” Walt lied, knowing full well that his family wouldn’t be dropping by anytime soon. “How could I possibly explain your presence?”

Walt noticed that Jesse looked guilty at this, but he didn’t say anything to contradict the lie. The boy should feel guilty after all, given that he had blackmailed his way into his home.

Nevertheless, a small part of him could detect Jesse’s sincerity, and in a strange turn of events, Walt was also left feeling somewhat guilty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this chapter was a little bit longer but altogether there were a lot of scene changes so I decided to split it in two as I thought it might flow a bit better. The second part of it should hopefully be posted at some point over the weekend however. 
> 
> As always, thank you very much for reading. The next part goes a little bit more into what mutts are and how they are viewed by society.
> 
> Kudos and comments are much appreciated. :)


	4. Chapter 4

“You need to wash those clothes,” Walt ordered Jesse a couple of days later, “You’re honestly starting to smell.”

While the mutt had washed up several times, he hadn’t changed clothes once since Walt had hit him with his car, and it was slowly becoming apparent.

“These are the only clothes I have,” Jesse defended, looking embarrassed, no doubt aware of the smell himself.  “And it’s way too cold in this crappy cabin to wander around naked.”

“You don’t need to wander around naked. You can wear an old pair of my clothes until they’ve dried,” Walt said simply not knowing exactly what the problem was.

Jesse however looked absolutely aghast at the prospect.

“Considering the oversized clothes you already wear, you really don’t need to worry about mines being too big for you,” said Walt recalling how scrawny the boy was underneath them.

“You sure you wanna share your clothes with a mutt?” Jesse asked as if thinking it would put Walt off.

Walt frowned. “While I’m not so keen on the idea of sharing clothes with _anyone._ If it gets rid of the smell however.”

Jesse pouted. “But…”

“No buts!” Walt yelled, growing more and more annoyed, “I don’t know how it is for mutts, but if you’re staying here, you need to wash them. I’m not going to spend the next several weeks suffering with having you here in top of that stench.”

 “Alright, already!” Jesse cried, carefully standing up as he cradled his ribs.

Expecting that to be the last of it, Walt noticed what appeared to be awkward shame on Jesse’s face.

“What?” Walt asked, exasperated.

“Your pants, they’ll…”

“What about them?”

“They’ll be too small to fit me…” Walt glanced on confused while Jesse’s frown deepened.

Realising that the older man just wasn’t getting it, Jesse sighed loudly running a hand over the beanie that covered his head. “They’ll be too tight for my tail, okay?”

And suddenly Walt realised just like that why the boy wore such large pants despite his small stature. While previously believing it to be just a bizarre fashion choice, the bagginess of the pants was perfect for concealing his tail.

“And I ain’t gonna walk around with no underwear on so…”

“Don’t worry about that,” Walt said, an idea suddenly coming to him.

And before the mutt could question him, he headed to his bedroom and from one of the drawers took out a shirt and from another pulled out an old pair of slacks that had become worn out and faded over time that he didn’t wear anymore. While not really fit to wear outside, for their purpose they would suit and so Walt proceeded to cut a small hole at the back of them with a pair of scissors, allowing space for which Jesse could slide his tail through.

“Here,” said Walt, handing them over to Jesse. “I cut a small hole in them to make room for your tail.”

Instead of being grateful however, the boy simply looked mortified.

“I...”

“What? What’s the problem now?” Walt demanded.

“Nothing,” Jesse answered, although it was clear to Walt that he was holding something back. Not that Walt was going to indulge him by asking, unwilling to hear any excuses.

“Good. Now go shower and leave your clothes outside the door and I’ll wash them.”

Walt knew he really should have been making the boy wash them himself – he already cooked all his meals after all – but the truth was, now out of a job, Walt found himself horribly bored and so even doing something as mundane as laundry was a welcome distraction from the boredom and isolation he felt being apart from his family.

“I may as well wash your hat as well,” he said, holding his hand out for Jesse to give it to him, somehow not trusting the mutt to leave it out with the rest of his clothes.

Since the first night Walt had brought Jesse to his cabin, Walt hadn’t seen him not wearing it, as if it were a permanent fixture on his head.

Just as with his oversized pants concealing his tail, the beanie hid his dog-like ears from view, meaning anyone catching a glimpse at him would be none the wiser to what he really was. Walt had no doubt that it was intentional. Mutt’s in this world were not treated well; being looked down upon with disdain. It made sense to keep hidden; made things simpler.

Other than himself, the Salamanca family and that outlandish doctor, Walt couldn’t help but wonder how many other people knew about what Jesse was. His family would. Although, Walt had absolutely no idea if he even had one. Given that he lived in a rundown warehouse, he assumed not. Not that Walt knew much about the dynamics of mutt family live of course...

With a sigh, Jesse removed his hat as he were somehow being punished and handed it to Walt, momentarily revealing his ears before quickly retreating into the bathroom.

Walt meanwhile got to work on doing the laundry. Jesse emerged from the bathroom thirty minutes later, looking uncomfortable and out of place and Walt found himself instantly taken aback about how tiny he looked in his clothes. While he already knew how small the boy was in his own flamboyant and oversized clothes, seeing him in the clothes that he himself wore, certainly highlighted how petite he was. As such, Walt found it difficult to believe that his predominant image of mutts had been creatures that were large, brutish and dangerous. With Jesse however, it seemed to be the exact opposite. Although, he supposed Jesse was dangerous in his own way what with the threat of blackmail being hung over his head…

Jesse headed to the couch and for the very first time, Walt saw his tail; long, furry and the same colour as his ears.

Jesse caught Walt looking and he quickly sat down concealing it from view. “Stare much?” he griped.

“Do you always keep it hidden?” Walt found himself asking.

“What?”

“What you are?”

“I don’t hide it! It’s cold so I wear a hat, and I like baggy pants cause they’re all comfy and look cool, yo. Not like your lame ass slacks,” Jesse defended.

Walt left it at that but a few minutes later he heard Jesse sigh and say, “I dunno. I guess it’s just easier if people don’t know. Then they don’t freak out like you did.”

“I didn’t freak out,” Walt argued.

Jesse snorted. Walt had certainly been surprised, but he wouldn’t say he had freaked out…

“Anyway, I’m just not used to people seeing them,” Jesse admitted, Walt assuming he was referring to his ears and tail.

“I suppose it must be hard…” Walt found himself saying sympathetically, surprising himself.

Jesse never replied however and Walt went back to washing his clothes, every so often glancing over at the couch. For some reason, he found the boy’s ears oddly mesmerising, or perhaps it was even the mutt himself. Nevertheless, Walt couldn’t explain it. Clearly his lack of interaction with his family was causing him to fixate on unnecessary things. That could be the only explanation after all…

 

“Hey, Mr. White…” Jesse began, sounding slightly tentative as they sat eating dinner. Walt had made spaghetti, and waiting for his own clothes to dry, Jesse was still wearing Walt’s. It was still strange sight. Not only the tail and ears, but the small man engulfed in his clothes. Again, despite being a mutt, the word delicate came to the forefront of his mind when he looked at Jesse.

“What is it?” Walt asked, finding himself curious from upon hearing the nervousness in his voice.

“You said you started like cooking meth for your family, but also to pay for your medical bills. What was it that was wrong with you?”

Walt frowned and with a sigh, said “Cancer. Lung cancer.”

“Shit. Sorry. My aunt, she… she died from cancer a few years ago,” replied Jesse, the tone of his voice making evident that the memory was clearly painful for him.

So even mutts could get cancer, Walt thought. Although, given that they were pretty much genetically identical to normal humans barring some differences, he shouldn’t have found himself surprised.

The truth was no one knew exactly where mutts had come from, the information assumed lost in some huge unforgotten war as was most of humanity’s history. Some people deduced that it was due to genetic modification, a technology that would now be impossible to replicate as mankind struggled to piece together the knowledge and world that had been lost. And as it so happened, finding out the origin and even purpose of mutts existence didn’t exactly weigh heavily on most people’s minds.

The world was slowly evolving but certainly not fast enough in Walt’s opinion, tensions and lack of resources causing endless hostilities between people and places. Although, Walt surmised from all the history books he had read as child this occurred even back before then even with all the technology and prosperity. Mutts were rarely mentioned, but again some believed that their existence was the result of genetic modification as opposed to a naturally occurring phenomena, with the main theory of their creation being for the purpose of combat and war; their increased senses and speed, as well as their argued loyalty making them the perfect soldiers and weapons. Walt couldn’t see that at all when he looked at Jesse, the mutt resembling an abandoned puppy far more than a fierce warrior created for battle.

Another theory was that mutts were created purposely to be pets, an idea which had slight credit to it in that the ‘Elites’, from what Walt had heard owned them as a combination of pets or servants or even both. Unlike, the brutish or haggard mutts Walt had seen on the streets, the Elites pets were in peak physical condition, often beautiful in appearance. And for a strange moment, Walt thought of the prospect of Jesse living as one of them. After all, while definitely on the scrawny side, the boy was rather attractive in spite of his unnatural tail and ears, perhaps even good-looking enough to be a pet; a pet that would be at the beck and call of some rich man or woman while simultaneously being spoiled and pampered.

It was an impossibility however. Again, from what little information Walt knew, the mutts were the result of specific breeding and raised from birth to be the perfect pet and servant – although the word ‘slave’, also came into Walt’s mind. Jesse was far too uncouth for that, the only time his manners showing when he thanked Walt after a meal. Despite his good looks, the Elites would surely be repulsed by him, the same way they felt to most people on the outskirts. It still infuriated Walt to think that Gretchen and Elliot ranked almost to their level with the fortune they had made out of _his_ company.

“Mr. White?” Jesse asked looking concerned.

Clearly the anger had shown on his face and so Walt shook his head, quickly ridding himself of the unpleasant thought.

“I’m sorry. About your aunt, that is,” Walt said, finding himself truly meaning it.

“I’m actually in remission now, but at the time, I was told that the tumour I had was inoperable. That’s why I wanted to leave something for my family when I was gone; why I did what I did,” Walt found himself divulging, placing his fork down, “I had a new born daughter on the way and my salary as a high school teacher certainly wasn’t going to cover the bills and my medical treatment. Then out of nowhere, by sheer coincidence, this opportunity appeared. I knew it was wrong but what other choice did I have but to take it?  It was for the sake of my family after all.”

Then, with a wry, smile he added. “Plus, I was good at it. Great even. I hadn’t been considered that in a very long time.”

When Walt looked up again, he thought Jesse looked strangely happy. “What?”

“Uh, sorry,” Jesse replied, appearing somewhat embarrassed, “It’s just good to hear that you’re in remission is all. That you’re going to be okay. It’d be pretty shitty meeting you only to learn that you were going to, well…”

Walt was taken aback. Even if Walt was on the verge of death, Jesse would surely be long gone in his life by that point. Until now, other than his family, Walt was sure that no one would give a damn if Walt was cancer-free or healthy in this world, but the boy, the mutt seemed generally happy for him. It was unnerving, but also touching...

“Thanks for the food, Mr. White,” said Jesse, once he had finished eating, Walt noticing that he always cleaned his plate completely.

Walt felt that he had been thanked more for the food he had made in the past week than he had in his entire lifetime.

“Walt,” he found himself saying with a small chuckle.

“What?” Jesse asked, tilting his head.

“I didn’t tell you before, but my first name is Walt. Walter White.”

Jesse smile widened. “Walt, huh? Well, thanks for the food, _Walt_. It was pretty dope.”

“Dope, huh?” Walt questioned, and in spite of himself, he too smiled. “You’re welcome, Jesse.”

And just like before, he truly meant it.


	5. Chapter 5

Much to Walt’s surprise, Walt found himself gradually becoming accustomed to the boy’s presence over the next couple of weeks. Instead of the fury and indignation he had felt initially, a part of him actually welcomed the company, a distraction from the isolation he had been forced into. Occasionally they would comment about whatever was on television. However, when nothing decent was on, he even found himself playing cards with Jesse; also, a welcome distraction from the umpteenth games of Solitaire he had played himself over the past several months.

Jesse also started to go outside, never far what with his broken ribs still recovering, but often he would go sit on the front porch staring into the woods to what Walt seemed somewhat longingly. Perhaps that had been where the mutt had grown up, he wondered. In the woods?  Or maybe because he was a mutt he just liked being outdoors?

Who knew? Nevertheless, Walt occasionally found himself wondering what the mutt was thinking about as he gazed out like that. Perhaps he was simply looking at something that Walt couldn’t see, like a small animal? He had read once that a mutt’s like an actual dog’s eyesight was better than a human’s after all.

Eventually, Jesse even started going out for a few, albeit short walks. Walt couldn’t blame him, what with being cooped up in such a small cabin. Nevertheless, despite his initial complaint about Walt not having any videogames, the mutt never complained about the lack of entertainment, content watching television and gazing out at the snowy terrain, and strangely enough, Walt thought, _his_ company.

In regard to himself, Skyler had allowed him to visit a couple of times. Seeing his family again had been blissful, especially being able to hold his adorable infant daughter who in Walt’s opinion, didn’t get to spend as nearly as much time with her father. And while parting from them, saying goodbye was painful, it seemed less so now that he had someone waiting for him at home, Jesse always greeting him with a smile, almost looking happy to see him. Walt didn’t understand quite why. They were polar opposites after all, but like he said, Jesse seemed to enjoy his company.

They had also developed into a routine with Walt cooking dinner while Jesse did the dishes, adamant that despite his healing ribs, he could at least do that much.

And while, initially not wanting the mutt to know anything about him, slowly but surely Walt found himself indulging to Jesse about parts of his life.

“So your wife freaked out when she found out you were cooking meth, huh?”

“More or less. Also, given that my brother-in-law, or rather soon to be ex-brother-in-law is a DEA agent also didn’t exactly help matters.”

“You have a brother-in-law who’s a DEA agent?!” Jesse proclaimed, aghast, “What would you have done if he’d figure out that you’re Heisenberg!?”

Walt chuckled weakly. “Believe me, I’m the last person Hank would ever suspect of cooking meth.”

 “Still, pretty ballsy move, yo” said Jesse, sounding both impressed and baffled, “And your wife, you’re sure she won’t say anything to him?”

Walt shook his head. “No. She wouldn’t want the kids finding out…” Walt replied, somewhat shamefully.

“Hey, you did what you had to do,” Jesse said encouragingly.

And for the first time, since this whole thing began, Walt found himself reassured by someone that other than himself that he had done the right thing.

Walt smiled and Jesse did so in return. In a bizarre turn of events, in this awful world, it seemed that Jesse Pinkman, a mutt would be the only one that understood. And just as Jesse seemed to oddly enjoy his company, Walt found himself enjoying the boy’s as well.

 

Despite it being Spring, a snowstorm occurred over the next few days, bringing with it intensely cold weather. Walt was just thankful that he had stored up on both food and firewood, venturing outside made pretty much impossible by several layers of snow that lay on the ground. He really did wish Spring would hurry up and get here.

The night especially was cold and as he wandered out into the kitchen for a glass of water, he found his houseguest even with all his clothes on shivering and huddling under the flimsy looking covers on the sofa.

Walt frowned as he glanced down at the boy. If certainly wouldn’t help his ribs to heal if he ended up coming down with a case of pneumonia and once again, Walt found himself feeling strangely sorry for him.

“Jesse,” he said quietly approaching and gently shaking him.

“Huh?” Jesse’s eyes shot open and Walt could feel how cold the boy was through his clothes.

“Get up and come to my bedroom,” he ordered, “It’s warmer in there.”

Despite the unusual request, without protest, Jesse blearily nodded and got up and following him through.

“There,” said Walt, signalling to the bed, “You can go ahead and use it.”

Jesse tilted his head in confusion as his arms wrapped tightly around his trembling form. “But then where are you gonna sleep?”

“Here, of course,” Walt replied, frowning, realising the confusion “I’m certainly not giving up my bed for you.”

“Uh, so what, you wanna share a bed with?” Jesse asked, horrified.

“Would rather freeze to death out there?” Walt challenged gesturing to the living room.

Jesse frowned, scratching the back of his neck. “Well, no…”

“Then, get in,” said Walt, gesturing for what side Jesse should climb in. “Just make sure you stick to your side.”

Before switching off the bedside lamp, he saw Jesse roll his eyes. “Uh, yeah, you ain’t gonna have to worry about that.”

“Shit. It really is so much warmer in here. A hot water bottle, huh?” questioned Jesse, reaching his leg down the bed, coming in contact with the warm object.

“Well, as you can plainly feel, the nights up here get cold,” said Walt as he settled back into bed, letting the warmth consume him, “Given that I don’t usually have anyone stay over, I’ve only ever had the need for one hot water bottle. When I next go into town, I’ll look into picking another one up for you.”

Even with the room in darkness, Walt saw the look of surprise on the boy’s face.

“What? Walt asked, suddenly feeling strangely awkward.

“Nothing! It’s just, I haven’t had one since I was a kid,” replied Jesse and Walt thought he sounded almost nostalgic, “My mom used to tuck me into bed at night with one when the weather was cold like this.”

At that moment, Walt thought that Jesse sounded incredibly young. He supposed it should have been a given since he was a good deal younger than him, almost still a kid even, a mutt or not. And mutt or not, Jesse had to have a family as well. Over the past couple of weeks, Walt had divulged some information of his own, Jesse knowing he had a wife, or rather soon to be ex-wife, as well a teenage son and an infant daughter. Jesse, had once mentioned an aunt after Walt revealed that he had lung cancer. However, unlike him, she hadn’t gotten over hers.

It was sad, but for an instance, Walt found himself smiling, recalling how pleased the boy looked when he told him he was in remission.

“Anyway, I kind of got used to the cold, sleeping in that warehouse. But being in an actual bed like this is pretty awesome,” Jesse admitted, before awkwardly adding, “Even if it is with another dude and all…”

“Where did you stay before the warehouse?” Walt asked, his interest piqued. “Before your time as a ‘runner?’”

“What’d you mean?”

“Well, where did you grow up?”

Walt felt the boy tense next to him and Walt found himself worrying. It had been an innocent enough question, and Jesse himself had asked similar ones about his family and his illness so surely it wasn’t out of line?

“Jesse?” Walt said, now more curious than ever.

“Uh, yeah, well, the thing is I actually grew up in White Haven…” Jesse said tentatively.

“White Haven?” Surely Walt couldn’t have heard correctly. While nowhere near the level of the cities the Elites occupied, White Haven was a very well off town, equally occupied by those from well-off families. How a mutt could grow up there was impossible, unless like the Elites, they had taken to having mutts as pets. It seemed incredibly unlikely however given they lacked the same raising and breeding processes.

He heard Jesse sigh loudly next to him, apparently sensing his shock. “My parents are normal…”

“Normal?”

“Yeah, they ain’t mutts like me.” Through the darkness, Walt could make Jesse out frowning.

“They’re normal humans. They don’t have tails, and have, well, _normal_ human ears…”

“Is that even possible?” Walt questioned, shocked, “If both people are well…”

“Apparently so,” Jesse interrupted, “My parents were pretty fucking surprised when I came out the way I am. So were the doctors…”

Then with a bitter laugh, Jesse added, “They never said, but for a short while I’m pretty sure my dad suspected my mom had an affair with a mutt or something, no matter how unlikely gone for someone from that background. But then the doctors at the hospital, they did some DNA tests and it confirmed that I was like one hundred percent both their kid.

None of their parents or Grandparents were mutts either. At least, so they were told. So yeah, I’m pretty much a freak of nature. The doctors compared it to the redheaded gene, what with it being recessive and shit and laid dormant or whatever” said Jesse with another sullen laugh, “Although unlike those guys, I ain’t exactly seen as being a source of like good luck.”

Walt was utterly stunned. So, Jesse had grown up as a mutt but with two human parents?

Mutts either occupied the dregs of society or existed in the world of Elites in which they were they were referred to as Canis Hominem. There was no in-between, and yet, somehow this boy had found himself born into such a world. 

“I had no idea,” Walt said, and he heard Jesse chuckle next to him.

“Yeah, well, your reaction is like a mild one my parents had. They freaked out, expecting a kid that looked like them to come out instead of having these ears and a tail,” said Jesse removing his beanie, “Not that I can blame them.”

Walt knew about children not coming out what was deemed ‘normal’ by society. His own son suffered from Cerebral Palsy and both he and Skyler were devastated when they learned. Of course, they didn’t love him any less for it; had simply been sad that their son wouldn’t be allowed access to many of the opportunities that others took for granted. Not that there was much equality as it was in this world…

Walt wondered what his reaction would have been had one of his own children came out in such a manner. He would have been shocked but a part of him; the decent loving father in him hoped he wouldn’t love them any less.

“Do you still see your parents?” Walt asked suddenly growing more and more curious about the mutt’s – or was he simply a boy with mutt-like features? – life.

Jesse shook his head. “Nah, we don’t talk anymore. I haven’t seen them in a few years.”

Walt frowned at that. He had found the past several months difficult being away from his children but to stop seeing them completely would be devastating.

“Sorry,” said Walt, truly meaning it.

“Don’t be. It’s cool. Besides, they have Jake now.”

“Jake?”

“Oh, he’s uh, my little brother,” said Jesse realising that he would have to explain, “I’m like twelve years older than him, but I guess it was good for my parents that they finally got the kid they always wanted in the end, someone they could show off and be truly proud of and shit.”

Walt’s frown deepened, disliking the self-deprecating way Jesse was referring to himself.

He knew the answer already but still he asked, “Is he-”

“Nah, he ain’t a mutt like me. One hundred percent normal human. He’s like super talented too. One of those kids that excels at everything, whether it’s academics, sports, music whatever.” Throughout the darkness, Walt could make out a smile. “He’s gonna do well in life.”

Walt found himself taken aback slightly. Despite, more or less admitting that his parents far favoured their second son, Jesse didn’t seem angry about it or even resentful towards Jake. In fact, he seemed proud of his younger brother. It was strangely endearing.

“Do you miss him, your brother, that is?”

Jesse shrugged. “A little… But I know he’s gonna be okay. I went and stayed my aunt a few years after he was born, so I only saw him like once in a while,” said Jesse before almost ponderously adding, “Plus, probably best he doesn’t have someone like me in his life. He can have a normal childhood this way without other people knowing that his brother’s a mutt and all…”

“Jesse-” Walt began but no more words came out, unsure exactly what he had intended to say. But again, it bothered him, hearing Jesse talking about himself so negatively. It made no sense, especially given the mutt had blackmailed him, and yet here he was sharing his bed with the young man talking about family, even feeling empathy towards him.

“What?” asked Jesse after a moment.

“Let’s get some sleep,” Walt said simply.

“Sure,” said Jesse before tentatively adding, “Even if it’s kinda gay, thanks for letting me sleep in your bed.”

Walt chuckled. “You’re welcome, son.”

 _Son._ God, the mutt really had someway manoeuvred his way into his heart. And with that, Walt turned off the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading. I hope to gradually reveal Jesse's past such as his childhood over time. 
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated. I hope to have the next chapter up sometime during the weekend. :)


	6. Chapter 6

The snow storm lasted several days, leaving with it extreme cold, and once again, Walt was thankful that he had stocked up on both food and firewood. He just hoped it wouldn’t last too long. The TV got no reception and so other than the few books and old newspapers he had lying around, the only other source of entertainment was to play cards, Walt even introducing Jesse to a few new games. The boy wasn’t a very good card player but once again, he found himself strangely thankful for the company, not knowing exactly how he would have coped with no TV in complete isolation with only his own thoughts to accompany him.

Jesse also continued sleeping in Walt’s bed the next couple of days, and Walt found it bizarre how quickly accustomed to it he had grown, especially in spite of the fact that it was a mutt sleeping next to him. Nevertheless, given that Walt had spent the last seventeen years sharing a bed each night with another person lying next to him, he rationalised that his body was simply just used to sleeping with someone.

However, on the third morning he awoke with a slight feeling of pressure against his chest. He was shocked when he looked down to find Jesse snuggled into him, seemingly fast asleep and in Walt’s opinion, looking very content. The boy also wasn’t wearing his hat, revealing his dog-like ears.

Walt had earlier made a comment that he shouldn’t feel the need to hide it from him, given that he was well aware of what Jesse was and so Jesse had taken to not wearing his beanie, or at least not in bed.

In the meantime, Walt wasn’t exactly sure how to proceed with the situation. He doubted that the mutt had purposely placed himself in such an intimate position, especially given his reaction from the other night when Walt had suggested sharing his bed in the first place.

It had been a particularly cold last night, _still was_ , so really it wasn’t _that_ unnatural for Jesse to huddle against him for warmth whether unconsciously or not.

Nevertheless, Walt was unsure if should just shake the boy awake, tell him to get off or carefully roll him away, leaving Jesse oblivious to the somewhat embarrassing situation that had occurred, while at the same time allowing Walt to feign ignorance of it.

He could feel those furry dog ears pressed against him and Walt found himself filled with the strange sudden urge to touch them. And for a worrying moment, he considered the possibility that the reason he had suggested to the mutt that there was no need to wear his beanie all the time was simply so he could get a better look at them. Walt quickly banished the thought as nonsense however. If there had been a reason, it would merely be simple scientific curiosity. To a normal human like himself, they did hold a certain fascination after all…

Walt continued to stare and before he could decide to go through with the action of reaching out for them, suddenly he felt the small figure curled into his chest begin to stir.

“Huh?” Jesse muttered, clearly still half asleep and confused about the strange wall in front of him.

Pulling back slightly, Jesse blearily came face to face with Walt, and once again overcome with another strange urge, Walt felt the desire to tease him.

“Good morning. You seem quite comfy down there,” said Walt grinning, his own embarrassment forgotten, “And here I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about you being on my side of the bed.”

Walt didn’t think he had ever seen someone’s face turn quite so red so quickly before.

“Ah! Sorry!” the boy cried and in a failed attempt to quickly shuffle away, the mutt’s foot got tangled in the sheets and he ended up toppling out of the bed instead with a loud thud.

Walt started to laugh; however it quickly ceased when he heard a groan from Jesse and quickly remembered the boy’s broken and healing ribs.

“Jesse, are you alright?” he asked panicked as he climbed out of bed and hurried to the mutt’s side, “Your ribs, are they…”

Jesse’s ears were drooped back as he rubbed at his behind.

“They’re fine,” Jesse muttered, his embarrassment momentarily gone, “I’m pretty sure I hurt my tail more than anything.”

“Oh,” Walt replied, often forgetting Jesse even had one given that he rarely saw it.

“How badly?” Walt asked as he started to bend over towards him, “Do you want me to take a look-”

“What? No!” Jesse immediately cried, aghast, his hands placed protectively over his tail through his pants.

“It…It’ll be fine, okay?”

Walt frowned. It was the same reaction the mutt had had when that doctor had wanted to check the thing over.

“I…I can still move it,” added Jesse, looking slightly pained and Walt saw the boy’s behind wiggle slightly.

For some unknown reason, the word, ‘endearing’ once again rose to the forefront of Walt’s mind.

“Here,” said Walt, reaching his hand out for Jesse to take.

The boy wore an expression that was both a mixture of suspicion and tentativeness but nevertheless, he still took Walt’s hand. And then with a surprising lack of effort, Walt easily pulled the boy up. However, he apparently used too much strength – he probably should have assumed that Jesse would weigh next to _nothing_ – causing Jesse to this time, trip forward. And for the second time in that short period of time since they had awoken, they were pressed against each other as Walt’s hands grabbed Jesse by the shoulders and held him upright to prevent him from falling, Jesse once again pressed against his chest.

God, the boy really did weight nothing, Walt thought, finding it hard to believe that someone so seemingly fragile had be working in such a dangerous occupation as a runner for the drug cartel.

Jesse looked up at him in surprise and if the mutt had been embarrassed before, the expression on his face now was one of pure mortification. He quickly jumped back. Thankfully however, this time he didn’t trip.

“Easy there, son. Are you okay?” Walt asked once more, worriedly automatically reaching out to steady him.

 _Son._ There was that word again.

“I…I don’t get it…Why are you being so…” Jesse trailed off.

“Being so what?” Walt questioned, not sure how he expected Jesse to continue that sentence.

But Jesse was shaking his head and before Walt could ask him again, he was hastily making a retreat.

“I-I’m gonna check my on tail out in the bathroom!” he cried back, leaving Walt standing there alone in the bedroom.

If the boy had a complex about his ears, then he seemed to have even more issues when it came to his tail. And once again, Walt reflected back on their conversation from the other evening; of how pained Jesse had sounded when talking about his family, of being a mutt growing up in the ‘human’ world. He hadn’t exactly revealed much however, meaning Walt could only wonder. But who knew, maybe before he eventually left the cabin, Walt would find out.

‘God’, Walt sighed to himself out loud. It had been so long since he had found himself even pondering about the life of and maybe even actually caring about another person who wasn’t a family member, that it felt so foreign to him.

Perhaps even more amazingly, Jesse had made him laugh. Even before the cancer treatment, Walt couldn’t remember the last time when he had actually last laughed out loud. In a world like this, there wasn’t much to snicker about after all. But again, Jesse’s embarrassment and clumsiness had been strangely appealing to him.

Yes, the mutt was…

Walt frowned. For some strange reason, the word now bothered him slightly, sounding unfair and degrading. 

Yes, the _boy’s_ presence was definitely having some sort of an effect on him. 

Walt glanced back at the bed they had shared and sighed. Pushing such thoughts aside, he decided to go and make a start on breakfast.

 

Jesse was rather subdued for the rest of the day. Occasionally he would catch the boy sneaking looks at him only to have him quickly turn away, pretending to watch television whenever Walt caught him.

Walt couldn’t help but grin and while a part of him thought it was simple contentment at now having the upper hand, the truth was he again found it oddly endearing. It reminded him as his time as a teacher were often he would catch students in his class staring at one of their classmates, only to hurriedly avert their gaze when the other person caught them. Of course, back then doing so had simply angered him, knowing that they should be paying attention to him given they were in his class to learn, not to swoon over one other. Not that he thought Jesse was at all swooning over him of course. That would be far to bizarre, not mention presumptuous.

Later, that day, it started to rain and while it would take some time for the snow to clear, the temperature had definitely warmed. Jesse probably wouldn’t need to spend the night in his bed, not that he probably wanted to after that morning. And while Walt knew he should have been happy to have his bed back to himself, to not have to share it with another man, he also felt a little sad. Not that he actually acknowledged the feeling of course….

As the day went on, Walt noticed Jesse fidgeting far more than usual – the boy always seeming to have such a nervous energy, Walt unsure if it was mutt trait or not – his face switching from discomfort and frustration to a pained expression.

“It’s your tail, isn’t it?” said Walt as they were sat down for dinner, not able to concentrate on eating with Jesse squirming in his chair like he was.

“What? No,” Jesse replied indignantly.

Then with a minute or so later with a sigh, “Maybe…”

“Do you need to see Saul?” Walt asked, repressing his own sigh as he thought about that doctor coming into his house again.

Jesse shook his head. “No. It just hurts a little with it being bent and stuff in my pants. Usually there’s enough room for it but…”

Walt frowned, clearly seeing an easy solution. “Then why don’t you go grab that pair of my slacks. They have a hole in them specifically to give your tail room.”

“I hate wearing them,” Jesse replied, sounding very much like a petulant child.

Walt sighed loudly. “Then would you rather go on being in pain and looking like you’re about to wet yourself at any moment?”

Jesse looked somewhat embarrassed but remained sullen. “Course I don’t. But-”

“Well, if you really hate them that much, cut a hole in your own damn pants,” Walt retorted, growing impatient with him.

“What! No way!” Jesse cried, apparently shocked by the mere suggestion, “They’re the only pair I have right now.”

“Well then, do you want broken ribs that are still healing _and_ a damaged tail? If you’re not going to let a doctor look at it then you should at least take care of it yourself,” Walt told him sternly.

Jesse frowned. “Why do you care so much anyway? Seriously, why are you acting all…”

And just like before Jesse trailed off. However, Walt was resolved not to let him away with it this time.

“Why am I acting so what, Jesse?”

Jesse’s eyes diverted downwards, staring at his food and again he looked embarrassed. “I don’t know. Like nice to me…”

Walt hadn’t expected that. Was he being nice? And if so, why should he be? The mut-

The young man, he corrected, was blackmailing him after all; had forced his way into his home. Why wasn’t he acting callously towards him in an attempt to drive him out? Why did he even care that Jesse’s tail hurt? Even enough to scold him like a child and point out obvious ways to fix the problem. Surely, he should be taking pleasure in his suffering, just like he should have left him to shiver and freeze on the couch the past several days.

Walt frowned, and he quickly found his initial anger and annoyance at the mutt barging his way into his cabin in return.

“Well, the sooner you heal, the sooner you can leave! Of course, I don’t want you getting yourself injured further just so you can sponge off me for longer,” Walt shot back, “Especially when you can so easily fix the problem, but instead you’re being too selfish and childish to do anything about it. Really, it’s pathetic. But I wouldn’t expect less from a _pathetic_ _mutt_.”

Jesse looked like he had been slapped, and Walt could visibly see his ears drop flat against his head.

Of course, seeing such a reaction, Walt instantly regretted his words. Even without those ears and tail, Walt would have thought he had just kicked a puppy, Jesse’s eyes conveying a deep pain.

And then, without saying Jesse pushed away from the table and stood up, heading to the other side of the room.

“Where…Where are you going?” Walt asked, all his previous anger gone, feeling remorse in its place.

“For a walk,” Jesse replied, pulling on his big hoodie as he wandered over to the coat rack until which recently had only held Walt’s jacket, “What, do I need permission or something?”

“It’s raining outside,” said Walt as he turned to glance out the window.

“Yeah, well, maybe we _pathetic mutts_ like the rain.”

Walt winced upon hearing his own words echoed back at him.

A moment later he heard the door slam, and Walt sighed to himself. To think that just hours ago he had felt happier than he had in a long time…

 

Walt cleared away their plates – the boy still had a fair amount on his as did Walt’s, having found his appetite having disappeared along with Jesse’s presence – and after doing the dishes he retreated to the couch to watch some TV, not that he could concentrate on it, Jesse’s commentary that he had seemingly grown so used to, now absent. And turning around to glance at the door, a part of him was fearful that Jesse wouldn’t come back.

Again, why he was worried about such a thing, he didn’t know, having been so desperate to be rid of the young man those first several days.

Jesse had been staying with him for over three weeks now and oddly it really did seem to be just those first few days that he had wanted him gone, having grown accustomed to his presence and company so quickly that it made him slightly uneasy.

Walt really didn’t understand it and slowly he began to become more and more frustrated at the mutt making him feel such a way.

He stood up. The small table in front of him was an absolute mess, littered with newspapers and magazines, and empty funyun packets that the mutt had somehow convinced him to buy when he had gone to the supermarket. The place had never been so messy when it was simply Walt. And so, agitated, Walt picked up a pile of things intent on throwing them away when suddenly a piece of paper fell to the floor at his feet.

Walt threw the things back down on the table angrily before bending down to pick the note up only to find that it hadn’t been written by himself but by Jesse.

It was a list. And as Walt scanned it, guilt welled up inside him.

Written down were all the things Jesse believed he owed Walt for; including lodging, food and even the magazines Walt had picked up for him. Also written there was the amount he owed Saul, which Walt felt was far too much given what little Saul had seemed to do for him.

Maybe Jesse was sponging off Walt right now, but it was clear to see that the boy fully intended on paying him back. How exactly, Walt was unsure given that he barely even seemed to get by on what he earned in his previous job as a runner. And while Walt had always been of the mentality that actions held far greater weight than words or intentions, in this case he couldn’t help but feel that it was the thought that counted.

With a sigh, Walt sat back down on the couch, glancing over the note again.

A few minutes later the door opened and relief flooded Walt upon realising that his once unwanted houseguest had returned.

Quickly he shoved the note underneath some of the magazines and newspapers on the table before standing up.

“Jesse, are you alright?” Walt instantly asked, standing up.

“I just went for a walk. Why wouldn’t I be?” replied Jesse sulkily as he kicked off his shoes and took off his wet hoodie.

Then somewhat bitterly added, “Don’t worry, I didn’t go out there to try and get sick by catching a cold or whatever so I’ll have to stick around longer. I told you already, as soon as my ribs are healed up, I’ll leave, yo.”

“I didn’t think that.”

Jesse snorted, disbelievingly. He then went to the kitchen and grabbed the pair of scissors from the drawer, seemingly having stayed in the cabin long enough to know at least where Walt kept things.

“I’m gonna like, you know…” said Jesse, gesturing with them before heading to the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

Walt frowned, sitting back down. When Jesse came back out again, his tail was hanging limply, reminding Walt of a puppy that had been scolded by its master. He felt guilty enough already with how things were his family to have something like this hanging over him as well and so, Walt found himself quickly saying, “I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t something he said often but right now he truly meant it, especially after finding Jesse’s list.

Jesse tilted his head, clearly confused.

“I shouldn’t have insinuated that you were, well…” Walt said, regretting implying that Jesse was deficient for being a mutt but struggling to quite get the words out.

 “And your tail, I get that you don’t… That, well, you feel you have to hide it, that is,” he continued awkwardly.

And suddenly, Walt realised that perhaps the reason he didn’t offer any apology often may have been because he just happened to be so awful at them…

Furthermore, Jesse seemed shocked by hearing him say so.  Then again it was quite clear that the boy wasn’t used to people being ‘nice’ to him given that he had questioned what he had believed Walt had been acting towards him earlier.

“It’s uh, fine, yo,” Jesse reassured as he took a seat down on the sofa.

Walt scooted over next to him “It’s not, I shouldn’t have said that,” he confessed. After all, Jesse had already told him previously that it was easier hiding his ears and tail than revealing what he was; that he wasn’t used to people seeing them. And when Jesse had admitted this, Walt had understood completely, what with mutts being viewed so negatively by what was no doubt the majority of people.

Jesse now looked uncomfortable, again unsure what to make of Walt’s words.

 “You don’t have to worry about it around me. Like I said before, I know what you are already, and while you’re here, I, well, I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide it. It’s part of you and you should feel like you can be yourself…” Walt continued.

Dear God, he really was terrible at this sort of thing.

 “Hey, uh…” began Jesse, his self-conscious expression disappearing somewhat.

“What?” the older man asked tentatively, sudden worried that rather than being appreciated his words would simply make him seem like a fool.

But his fear was in vain as the boy broke into a somewhat embarrassed smile.  “Thanks.”

Walt found himself grinning in return.

“There’s no need to thank me,” Walt admitted truthfully, gently patting Jesse’s leg before curiously asking, “Is there something else you’d prefer to be called?”

Jesse gave him confused look. “What, other than Jesse?”

Walt shook his head. “No, I mean, as a term for what you are…” Like Jesse, he found himself trailing off.

“Other than a ‘mutt’, you mean?”

“Well, yes, that,” said Walt somewhat fearful that he had overstepped his bounds.

Jesse took a few moments to consider it, and just as he looked like he was about to answer with ‘no’, a look of realisation appeared on his face; an expression that quickly morphed into one of embarrassment.

“Kinda…My aunt, she…”

It was very clear for Walt to see after the other night Jesse very highly of his late aunt to the point where the boy seemed to have had a much better relationship with her than his own parents.

For a brief moment Walt felt anger upon recalling the jealousy he himself experienced knowing just how much his own son looked up to his uncle Hank rather than him, his own father. Nevertheless, right now he was far more curious about what had caused the flushing of the boy’s cheeks, it having already happened several times that day for numerous different reasons.

“Well?” Walt urged, eager to know.

“Forget it. It’s dumb and way too embarrassing!” Jesse protested.

Walt grinned. “More embarrassing than falling out bed then almost toppling over again when standing up?”

“You’re such a dick,” Jesse shot back, however there was no malice in his voice and like earlier Walt found himself laughing in what had been the second time that day in what was very much a long time.

“Fine, fine, you don’t need to tell me,” said Walt, almost feeling that he was letting Jesse off the hook as a way to apologise for earlier.

Nevertheless, he fully intended on learning what it was at some point.

More importantly however, from then on Walt got to see Jesse’s ears and tail unconcealed, ears not hidden by a beanie and pants that covered his tail from view, and Walt discovered that he much preferred seeing the boy that way, strangely fascinated by the way they flickered to show and reveal his emotions. And yet again all Walt could think about was how terribly endearing it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Next chapter will be from Jesse's POV and will go into a little more detail about his relationship with his aunt. :)


	7. Chapter 7

Almost a month had passed since Jesse Pinkman had gotten hit by a car belonging to the Salamanca’s infamous meth cook, Heisenberg. Of course, Jesse now knew him as Walter White, and before that simply as ‘Mr. White’ due to the man’s initial reluctance to reveal his first name, and in a strange turn of events had temporarily started living with him. Not that it was voluntary on the other man’s part, Jesse having blackmailed him by threatening to reveal his identity to the DEA if he didn’t allow him crash space until his broken ribs had healed.

Jesse had only blackmailed him as a means to survive. After all, with no health insurance on top of being a mutt, there was no way he could possibly afford to go to a hospital. Jesse knew Saul could at least hook him up with some prescription painkillers, having had to turn to him before but the other problem was finding a place to stay until his ribs had healed. Jesse had been used to thieving in order to get by, his above average speed making him pretty damn good at it. But even he knew with his ribs the way they were his agility would be severely compromised. And without anyone money, with the cops finding him sleeping on the streets, he knew he would be in deep shit as well as target for their hatred, just looking for an excuse to pick a mutt like him up. Either that, or he would have frozen to death first; this Winter – or well, technically Spring now - having been the coldest it had been in years.

 Having to spent weeks holed up in some remote cabin in the middle of nowhere with a guy that clearly hated him wasn’t the most ideal of situations, but gradually he found himself becoming accustomed to living in the small shabby place, coming to like it even. Sure, it was boring as hell as well as only temporary, but it wasn’t like he exactly had much going on living in the warehouse either. And while the sofa he occupied in the cabin wasn’t the comfiest, considering he had been sleeping on an old thin mattress on the floor for the past several years, he couldn’t really complain. The place was cold, but so had the warehouse been. At least here, there was a nice warm fire he could sit next to. And thankfully, the cabin’s owner wasn’t so stingy with firewood, the man disliking the cold just as much.

That was the other thing, _Walt_. As much as the dude could be a grumpy old bastard – especially in the initial days of Jesse’s stay – Jesse enjoyed his company. Despite the whole cooking crystal meth thing, Walter White had struck Jesse as such a straight-shooting guy that the knowledge of him being a meth cook seemed almost comical. However, when he had told him he had a DEA agent as brother-in-law Jesse had been completely shocked at the risk he had taken. He soon came to realise why initially Walt hadn’t immediately given into him when Jesse threatened to tell the DEA about him being the cook behind the infamous blue-sky meth which junkie’s all over the city would have given their left testicle to have a piece of. After all, on paper, he was a simple family man, utterly law-abiding citizen; and an incredibly boring and mundane one at that. Who would possibly expect someone like that to be cooking crystal meth?

Again, it didn’t make much sense for Jesse to like him so much given that they had like nothing in common other than both working for the cartel. There was also a sizable age difference between, but Jesse really did enjoy being around him. For such a boring old dude, he actually had a lot to say, speaking to him about science – although really most of the time Jesse had absolutely no idea what he was talking about – as well as occasionally even talking about his family. Walt still cooked all their meals but Jesse was determined to help out someone way and so elected to do the dishes, it not being such a strenuous task that his ribs couldn’t handle it. Other than that, they would sit and watch TV and even play card games which initially Jesse thought was lame but now would begrudgingly admit he actually found them kind of fun.

He did however find that he had to wear his beanie whenever they played, his ears apparently being a massive tell with Walt easily being able to guess whether Jesse had a good hand or not from the movement of his ears. Thankfully his tail didn’t move as he knew he wouldn’t be able to do much about it given he now had a hole sticking out of his pants for it. Plus, the thing still kind of hurt from the whole falling out of bed onto his ass incident. It had taken him awhile to get used to, having his tail out, making him feel horribly naked and exposed as if he were walking around with his dick out or something.

In spite of Jesse blackmailing him and Walt resenting him for it, Jesse felt that Walter White had been kinder to him than any other human being had in years. The guy had had even apologised to him, telling him his ears and tail were a part of him and that he shouldn’t feel the need to hide them around him.

Jesse smiled at the memory. He had been so shocked, not quite sure how to react. He knew that despite their words, not even his own parents had felt that way. Even at a young age Jesse could tell just by the way they looked at him.

As old memories flooded his mind, Jesse shook his head, having resolved years ago to put such things behind him, trying to think of his Aunt Ginny instead whenever such thoughts plagued him. Ginny had always acted kindly towards and been supportive of him; hadn’t cared that he was a mutt. She even had her own nickname for him as absolutely embarrassing as it was.

Reaching over to his hoodie, he took out an old photograph of them together. It had been taken when he was about ten years old and Ginny was stood next to him with her hand resting on top of his head. He remembered her gently rubbing his ears, telling him how cute both they and his tail were. At that age, he had been especially embarrassed and felt more than a little put out. However, when it came for the actual picture to be taken, he was smiling happily.

She had always seemed so strangely fond of his abnormal features. The exact opposite of his parents.

“You’re just different Jesse and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that,” she would tell him whenever he was self-conscious or down about his unfortunate infliction.

Jesse smiled sadly as he glanced down at the photograph. It was the only picture he had of his aunt and so he treasured it dearly. His parents no doubt had some at their house but Jesse doubted he would be seeing them anytime soon, if at all. 

He had been absolutely devastated when she had died. Unlike a lot of people, she could afford treatment for her cancer, but in the end, it did nothing to help, only prolonging her life slightly, which with the amount of pain she had been in at the end, Jesse was still unsure if it had been a good thing or not, even if had meant he had less time to spend with her.

With Ginny gone, Jesse found himself more or less alone in the world. By the time she had passed, Jesse barely saw his parents and their relationship only worsened when they kicked him out so they could sell Ginny’s house.

He had been furious of course. His aunt had intended for him to have the house when she passed. But with there having been no proper change to the will, the house automatically went to his mom, her sister. He had tried fighting it but there was little he could do, his mutt features doing nothing to help him either.

“I’m sorry but a person’s pet has absolutely no right to their property or belongings after their passing. Even if it was stated in the will which it wasn’t, I’m not sure it would be accepted in a court of law,” the lawyer he had tried to hire told him condescendingly.

“I wasn’t her pet!” Jesse had yelled back furiously, getting to his feet, “She was my aunt, you fucking prick!”

The man had looked terrified at Jesse’s outburst as if he were honestly expecting him to leap over the desk and savagely rip his neck out with his teeth like the savage mutt he was no doubt perceived to be.

A minute later and Jesse was hauled out by a security guard, being tossed to the ground with such force that he found himself in pain for days after.

“If you ever come back here, I-I swear I’ll call the police!” the lawyer shouted from behind the guard.

Then before going back inside, his smug attitude returning, said, “As if a disgusting creature like you has any rights whatsoever anyway.”

Jesse hadn’t attempted to hire anymore lawyers after that. It would be utterly pointless. Every single one of them would view him the exact same way. And so, he had been left with no choice but to watch from the outside as the house his aunt had lived in for over twenty years, the house that he had cherished as a place of refuge was renovated completely and sold on to a bunch of strangers with no emotional attachment to it whatsoever.

Not long after, he found work as a runner for the Salamanca family and subsequently moved into the warehouse where they operated from. It was a place however that he could never view or accept as home despite having stayed there for several years.

In the end, he acknowledged with some bitterness that with what he was, he would never have another home again.

With his aunt gone, Jesse knew there would never be anyone who accepted him. Or at least that seemed to be the case until Walter White had come along.

Speaking of Walt, lying on the couch Jesse was surprised to find himself awake before the older man. Walt always got up early, or at least by Jesse’s standards, claiming it was something that had been ingrained into him from his many years working as a high school teacher.

Sitting up Jesse glanced over at Walt’s closed bedroom door. Jesse was back to sleeping on the couch now, the snowstorm outside having ceased and the temperature outside risen. Walt had also done what he claimed and bought a new heavier blanket for the couch as well as a hot water bottle. Jesse loved the thing, it made his feet feel all nice and toasty. It was also a luxury he certainly didn’t have living in the warehouse. Still, despite being substantially warmer, a part of him missed sleeping in Walt’s room. Not that he said anything of course; two grown men sleeping together being super weird and all. Plus, there was also that time he had woken up one morning to find himself practically snuggling into the man’s chest, a memory which still made him blush whenever he recalled it, which ended up being more often that he would like since Walt seemed to take great pleasure in teasing him about it like the total dick he was.

Jesse smiled slightly. Who knew a grumpy guy like that could have a sense of humour? It sorta made him happy even if it was at his expense.

He had to keep telling himself that it was the bed he missed and not the person he had lay sleeping next to. A person that by all accounts would usually be up by now he discovered as he glanced at the clock, it being almost ten.

Jesse frowned. Walt had also gone to bed quite early last night. The guy really should have been awake by now, Jesse couldn’t help but think, becoming slightly concerned.

Deciding to investigate, Jesse threw off the blankets, shivering slightly at he did so. He would light the log fire eventually but firstly he wanted to check on Walt, and so pulling on his hoodie he headed over to the man’s bedroom.

Knocking lightly a couple of times on the door, Jesse frowned when he received no response.

About to knock harder, he suddenly heard a loud hacking cough and quickly he opened the door.

“Hey, are you okay?” Jesse asked worriedly, rushing to the older man’s bedside. Now that he thought about it, Walt hadn’t seemed too hot before he headed to bed the night before either, Jesse just having assumed he had simply been tired.

 “I’m fine,” Walt replied, moving to sit up.

“Well, you sure don’t look or sound it, yo,” said Jesse, taking note of the sweat running down his face, “I think you might be sick.”

Walt coughed again, it sounding much louder now that Jesse was right next to him. And suddenly an awful possibility occurred to him.

“Oh God,” Jesse began panickily, “Is it the cancer bac-”

“Of course not,” said Walt in that tone that implied that he had just said something completely idiotic, “I’m just feeling a little bit under the weather is all.”

Jesse wasn’t convinced however, and seeing his still worried expression, Walt sighed. “I’m fine, Jesse. It’s a cold is all. Maybe the beginning of the flu at worst.”

While Jesse was happy that it wasn’t the cancer, he still didn’t feel reassured.

“Yeah, but even that isn’t good for you, yo.”

“What, because you think I’m just _that_ old?” Walt challenged, grumpily.

“Well, kinda. But I was thinking more cause of the whole being in remission from lung cancer thing.”

Walt looked momentarily surprised that Jesse would know such a thing. Although he usually didn’t quite understand the terminology, Jesse had always listened intently whenever he attended the doctors with his aunt, wanting to know exactly what was happening and how he could help. They had always stressed the dangers of complications occurring if one caught a cold or came down with the flu while simultaneously dealing with cancer, their immune system already greatly compromised. And while maybe not quite as serious, the same applied to people in remission as well.

“I appreciate your concern, Jesse, but honestly I’ll be fine,” Walt told him.

Jesse felt his tail flicker in dissatisfaction. His ears were probably doing that annoying and obvious drooping thing as well. Right now, however, he didn’t care, the truth being he didn’t want the man to be ill, even if it was just a cold.

“Hey, do you maybe want something to eat? I can make you something,” Jesse offered, wanting to do something to at least help.

“Right now, what I want is just to sleep. I’ll get something when I get up.”

“I promise,” Walt then added somewhat gently, either seeing the unhappy expression on his face or noticing his lowered ears.

With a sigh Jesse nodded. “Fine. But you better let me like know if you need anything, okay?”

Walt gave a small smile, and again he said, “I promise.”

With that Jesse headed to the door and just as he was about to leave, he heard Walt quietly say, “Thank you.”

Unsure if he had been supposed to hear it or not – one of the few advantages of being a mutt was having superb hearing – he didn’t turn back or say anything. Instead he smiled to himself and closed the door.

 

Several hours passed and Walt still hadn’t emerged from his room, shifting Jesse’s worry into overdrive, and so once again Jesse hurriedly went to check on him.

Walt was asleep when he went in so the coughing had stopped at least but the man certainly didn’t look good, his face still covered in sweat.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Jesse asked, bending down next to the bed. Walt didn’t stir however and Jesse felt somewhat guilty about waking him.

Instead he headed to the bathroom and began searching through the cabinets there for some medicine. However, all he could find were some pills that were presumably left over from his cancer treatment and a half empty packet of Ibuprofen, which while may help somewhat with any pain he was experiencing, would do nothing to alleviate Walt’s other symptoms.

While there was a chance that whatever Walt had would amount to nothing – Jesse had had times in the past where he had felt absolutely awful one day and was absolutely fine the next – it definitely wasn’t something he wanted to risk, especially with Walt being in remission from lung cancer.

And so, Jesse realised that he would have to venture out and buy some cold and flu medicine himself, Walt certainly being in no fit state to do so.

Jesse returned to Walt’s room and looking down at the slumbering figure, snoring somewhat, promised, “Don’t worry, I’m gonna go and get you some medicine. I’ll be back soon, okay?”

Closing the door, Jesse began thinking things over. The city was pretty far but he knew there was a town nearby that was a hell of a lot closer. And while it was small, it would at least have a genral store or two that sold drugs.

Jesse couldn’t help but chuckle slightly, wondering when the last time had been when he had bought drugs that weren’t illegal.

The more important question however was how to get there. Looking out of the front window, Jesse could see Walt’s car, the keys for which lay on the table. However, while he did know how to drive, Jesse technically didn’t have a license. And while it had never stopped him from driving in the past, on the off chance he got caught by the police – in which they’d no doubt assume he had stolen it – it would prevent him from either buying or giving the medicine to Walt. Not to mention that there was also the possibility that he may never get to see the man again, aware that his time living at the cabin was drawing to a close.

Jesse placed his hand over his ribs. They had mostly healed now and the once large and unpleasant dark bruises that branded his chest had faded, leaving only a light-yellow tinge to his skin.

Saul had given him four weeks for his ribs to heal, six tops, and while Jesse didn’t want to deceive Walt, he also didn’t want to leave, wishing to stay with him until at least six weeks had passed.

He had been so nervous on the days approaching the four-week mark of his time staying in the cabin, so sure that Walt would comment on it, ask him when he was planning on leaving or even outright tell him to get out. However, several days had passed since then and Walt hadn’t said a single word about it to him. Jesse was unsure if the man was just unaware of the passage of time or was perhaps giving Jesse the benefit of the doubt and waiting the whole six weeks. After all, while grumpy, Walt had proven himself to be surprising kind on occasion.

Even then, Jesse was aware he had just under a week and a half left, time which even in this small cabin in the middle of nowhere where nothing happened would still fly in for him.

“Get your shit together,” Jesse said out loud to himself, shaking his head. Walt needed him.

He would walk to the town. It would take a while on foot, but he couldn’t risk taking the car.

Putting his hoodie on, he reached into his pocket and took out some cash. He hadn’t been stupid enough to give Saul all his money, not that what he had now amounted to very much. Still, he could at least afford to buy some flu medication..

Shoving his beanie on his head, Jesse had fully intended on leaving, ready to open the door when suddenly he faltered, something dawning on him, only just realising when he felt the fabric of his hat covering his ears.

His tail. It was completely exposed.

After having hurt it almost two weeks before, he had cut a hole in his pants and had been walking around with it sticking out ever since. Of course, this had only been indoors in front of Walt and the deserted woodland surrounding the cabin. Where he was about to go however, there would be actual people. And while he liked to believe that he didn’t give a shit what anyone else thought, the idea of going outside with his tail on show for anyone to see, made him sort of nervous.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t been outside with his tail on show before, but he couldn’t remember the last time he had, it having to have been sometime before his aunt died. Ever since, he had kept his tail and his ears hidden from view. After all, having them on display was like having a huge target painted on one’s back.

For a moment, he thought about borrowing a pair of Walt’s slacks, but again they would be too small to tuck his tail into, evident by Walt having to cut a hole in them for him when Jesse’s own pair of pants were being washed.

A small bout of shame washed over him.

If he had a needle and thread he could stitch up the hole, but he didn’t actually know if there was any in the cabin. Not to mention, it would take him too long. He needed to leave as soon as possible after all, the trip into town already going to take several hours by the time he got there and back again.

Once more, Jesse thought of Walt’s words about not needing to hide them.

“Easy for you to say,” said Jesse out loud with a sigh.

Nevertheless, Jesse was still touched by the sentiment and that alone urged him on.

And so, with renewed resolve, Jesse opened the door and quickly headed off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Next chapter will see some more familar characters. 
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are really appreciated. :)


	8. Chapter 8

It took Jesse over two and a half hours to reach the small town, although he was sure he could have cut the time greatly had he been in peak condition. And while many people would begrudge having to traipse so far, Jesse didn’t mind in the slightest. In fact, he very much enjoyed the walk, having even broken into a sprint at one point, the feeling of exhilaration he experienced splendid. It was strange, he hadn’t felt this way from running in a very long time. It was different than usual. Somehow, he felt free.

He supposed it was could be because he wasn’t running for the Salamanca family and in turn didn’t have thousands of dollars worth of crystal meth strapped to him. Instead he was running for himself. And while he was technically doing so to get medicine for Walt, it was of his own accord, a choice he himself had made. And with it had come an incredible sense of freedom.

Suddenly it dawned on him that he would never be working for them again. He was a free man. Or he supposed, in his case, a free mutt.

It definitely wasn’t something he would miss. The Salamanca’s had treated him like shit, only tolerating his presence because his nonhuman speed was considered to be at least of some value to them when it came to getting drugs into the city without detection.

Luckily for Jesse, Hector Salamanca, had ordered his men not to harm him for this exact reason, and so despite being surrounded by many people who would have liked nothing more than to use him as their own personal punching bag, Jesse considered himself safe for the most part. After all, Don Hector’s word was law.

Unfortunately, not everyone was quite so obedient and one-day Jesse had found himself the victim of Don Hector’s psychotic nephew, Tuco, who was infamous for his short fuse temper. The dude had literally beaten the shit out of him for no reason at all, claiming that a filthy mutt like him shouldn’t even dare glance in his general direction. Don Hector had been rather pissed off about the incident given that it meant their number one runner would be out of commission for a while. But seeing that Tuco was _actual_ family, the prick had simply got a telling off, if you could even really consider it that.

Still, regardless of telling his men not to harm him, Jesse was well aware of the fact that the man despised him just as much as his underlings, possibly even more so, prejudice seeming to be ingrained into Don Hector’s very core.

Of course, the Salamanca family no longer being around presented its own problems, what with him now being out of a job as well a place to live; the cabin being a stop gap before he found himself once again homeless.

There would most certainly be a power vacuum in the city with rival gangs competing to take over which the Salamanca family had once held a grip on so tightly. There was even a chance he may end up working for one of them despite the violence and bloodshed that would inevitably ensue as the rival gangs tried to claim territories and rise to power. After all, he needed some way to pay Walt back, not to mention his medical bills to Saul. And there certainly wasn’t a lot of jobs out there available to him.

In the current moment however, Jesse decided not to dwell on that, instead enjoying the hearty feeling of freedom.

He took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh air, and after a minute or so he quickly headed off to find a store.

While the town was quiet with nowhere near as many people wandering about as in the city, after a month in the cabin with only Walt for company, Jesse suddenly felt as if he had been thrust back into civilization.

He wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not, especially with his tail on show.

Nevertheless, he pressed on.

With thoughts of the city returning to him, he wondered how his three friends, Combo, Badger and Skinny Pete who lived there were doing. Being what he was, they were the only friends he had. Or at least Jesse liked to think of them as his friends. Truth be told, he was actually their dealer with them buying meth from him every so often at a discounted price in comparison to the usual street value, which was great for them as when Walt’s incredibly pure crystal went on the market, the price rose considerably. Jesse did however hang out with them occasionally, mainly to get high, either from the meth Jesse sold them or weed. Still, Jesse appreciated the company.

Of course, being a runner, the product wasn’t actually his to sell. Jesse’s role was to deliver it to the dealers on the street and that was it. He discovered however, that if he took a small amount during every run, eventually he would accumulate enough meth to sell on.

He only sold to his friends, knowing that it wasn’t safe to sell to anyone else less word get back to Don Salamanca that he was dealing. And if that happened he would most certainly get a bullet through the head, and that was only if he was lucky.

Still, it was a good way to make a bit of extra cash and considering how little he actually got paid, Jesse considered it worth the risk.

Nevertheless, a part of Jesse worried – a worry which he more often than not chose to ignore – that his selling discounted meth may have had something to do with his friends’ association with him.

They knew of course that he was a mutt. And while they acted like they didn’t care, Jesse could never quite be sure.

Badger at the very least didn’t seem to have a problem with it. When Jesse had come out as a mutt to him, he had been ridiculously excited about it.

“Aw man, that is so awesome, yo!” Badger had declared with a great deal of enthusiasm, “You’re like super-fast. And you have dope hearing and smell too, am I right?”

Jesse had been taken aback by Badger’s reaction, not quite sure how to reply. He certainly wasn’t used to such gusto when people found out what he was.

“Uh, right,” Jesse had answered finally, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“That’s totally dope! Like a superhero, yo! I wish I had all that shit, except, you know, without the whole being a mutt thing.”

And there it was.

And just like that, any pleasure Jesse had taken from Badger’s excitement instantly vanished.

All those things were great on their own, but when you added being a mutt as well, in the end was it really worth it?

The answer, by most people’s standards, was of course, no. Unfortunately, Jesse didn’t have a choice in the matter.

He didn’t hold it against Badger however, even humouring the man’s ridiculous questions, like “How far would I have to go before you wouldn’t be able to smell me?” and, “If I got lost in the woods, if you had a piece of my clothing, you’d totally be able to sniff it and come find me like those police dogs, right?”

He supposed an argument could be made that he hadn’t needed to blackmail Walt into letting him stay, that he could have simply crashed with one of his friends instead. But Jesse had a strong suspicion that he would have been refused by all three. It was pathetic but truth was, he worried that when they found out he could no longer deal to them, they would decide that they wanted nothing more to do with him. And so, Jesse fearing their rejection, having experienced so much of it already in his life, chose simply to stay away from them, feeling that he would rather just not know than to experience outright rejection.

Unlike the area surrounding the cabin and the journey down, much of the snow was shovelled away, leaving the roads most clear and as a result making it much easier to walk through. It was Spring now, and while the snow had definitely lingered longer than usual, soon it would start to melt. And as much as Jesse liked the snow, he was looking forward to it finally being gone. Spring was his favourite season after all, with Summer being slightly less so, given how hot it got. His only saving grace during those blistering summer months had been that most of the time he tended to do his runs under the cover of night; running miles during the day under the scorching sun having been a hellish experience when forced to do it.

After wandering through several streets filled with houses, Jesse came across a deserted playpark. He assumed school must still be in session, the park no doubt likely to be filled with kids in due time.

Turning a corner, he continued up the street and just ahead he saw what looked to be a store. Feeling his ears perk up from underneath his beanie, Jesse quickly hurried. The sign above it read ‘Mike’s General Store’. Not exactly an original or creative name but considering it was for a store in a small town were the inhabitants probably didn’t have much choice in where to shop without going to the city, he guessed it didn’t really matter if the name was appealing or not.

However, once getting outside, he was greeted by another small sign, this time on the door, saying ‘Closed. Be Back Soon’.

Inwardly he cursed. It was just his luck of course. Furthermore, there was no indication of how long ‘soon’ would actually be. Ten minutes? An hour? Hours?

He sighed, leaning against the wooden railing outside of the place. He could go search for somewhere else he supposed. Firstly however, he really needed a cigarette, and reaching into his hoodie he pulled out a packet and his lighter. It was his last cigarette.

After weeks of Walt refusing to buy him any, Jesse had been finally able to convince the man to get him a pack on the provision that he smoked them outside. Jesse maintained that he would have done this from the very beginning, which Walt had scoffed at. As such, Jesse could only assume Walt’s willingness to buy him some was due to his softening attitude towards him. Why, even now, Jesse still couldn’t quite believe that he had let him share his bed on those freezing nights.

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he lit up.

Enjoying his cigarette, Jesse suddenly felt something pull at his tail and in his surprise, he jumped, his cigarette falling to the ground as a result.

He immediately turned around, his defences on high alert, only to find a young girl with long blonde hair and a backpack resting on her shoulders, looking no older than eight or nine standing there. She took a step back looking slightly fearful and Jesse realised that the shocked and battle-ready expression on his face was no doubt frightening her.

Quickly realising that there was no danger and that he was scaring her, Jesse immediately relaxed, his face softening.

“Uh, hey there,” he said to the little girl with an awkward wave.

“I’m sorry!” the girl blurted out before speedily adding, “I’ve never met a doggy person before and I saw your tail and it looked so nice and furry and I really wanted to touch it but I may have pulled on it too hard.”

Jesse couldn’t help but smile. Doggy person, huh? He had certainly never been called that before.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he reassured, bending down so he was at her level, “I’m not mad or anything. You just startled me is all.”

“Sorry,” she apologised again, and then instantly perking up, any fear seemingly gone, said, “My name’s Kaylee. What’s yours?”

“It’s uh, Jesse.”

She smiled. “Hi, Jesse.”

Then, “Hey, you’re a doggy person, right? Does that mean you have doggy ears, too?”

Jesse chuckled. The kid sure was cute. “Yeah, I do. Wanna see?” he offered, surprising himself. The girl however seemed much more intrigued than wary about he was.

Kaylee nodded eagerly and Jesse removed his beanie to show off his ears.

Her smile instantly brightened. “Wow, they’re really cute!” she declared, and Jesse found himself blushing slightly at the embarrassing but somewhat endearing compliment.

“I have a doggy. His ears are real cute too, but he’s at home right now.”

“You like dogs, huh?”

Kaylee nodded enthusiastically. “Uh-huh! They’re my favourite animal. My Pop-Pop got my dog for me. His name is Snuffles.”

Jesse grinned. “That’s a real cute name.”

“Jesse, could I touch your ears?” Kaylee asked hopefully, her eyes fixated on them.

“Oh, uh, well…”

“Oh, I’m supposed to say please first!” she cried, placing her hand over mouth, “Um, Jesse, can I _please_ touch your ears?”

Owing to bad experiences when he was younger, no one had really touched his ears or his tail since he was a kid. His aunt had still occasionally placed her hand on his head even when he was older, but other than that, he had mainly kept them hidden, the thought of anyone touching them making him nervous. It had been part of the reason why he had been so startled when the girl had grabbed his tail.

But Kaylee was looking at him so expectantly, and she was just a little kid so it wasn’t like there would be any harm done.

_“But it had been kids last time too…”_ a voice in his head countered.

Jesse quickly banished the unpleasant memories and voice away. There was absolutely nothing dangerous or suspicious about the cute innocent little girl before him, and so Jesse found himself relenting.

“Sure, go ahead,” he said gently, pushing his head slightly towards her.

He felt her hands gently stroking his right ear and although he couldn’t see her face, he heard her giggle. He smiled. It actually felt sort of nice.

However, the moment was quickly broken when a loud gruff voice yelled the girl’s name.

“Kaylee!”

Kaylee pulled her hand back, and startled once again, Jesse almost fell over from his crouched position.

“Pop-Pop!” he heard her cry as she ran over to the figure approaching them.

“Kaylee, sweetie, what did I tell you about running off so far ahead?”

“Sorry, Pop-Pop,” she replied, sounding apologetic, “I just really wanted to open the store.”

“Hmm, but your still outside and the store isn’t open.”

Pushing himself up so he was standing again, next to Kaylee, Jesse saw an old bald but very gruff looking man, and his eyes were bearing right into him.

“And who exactly do we have here?”

Jesse immediately panicked. Most parents – or in this case, Jesse figured Grandfather –wouldn’t take to kindly to seeing their child talking to a complete stranger, let alone one that was a mutt who they had just possibly witnessed letting their Granddaughter touching their head.

“Pop-Pop, this is Jesse. He’s a doggy person!” Kaylee cried cheerfully, oblivious to the sudden tension.

“I can see that,” the man said, not taking his eyes off of Jesse.

“Kaylee, as well as running off ahead, what did I also tell you about talking to strangers?” he said gently, no anger in his voice as he finally turned to look down at his granddaughter. Not that this made Jesse feel any more at ease.

“But Jesse was waiting outside the store, so that means he’s a customer, not a stranger!”

“Be that as it may, you shouldn’t talk to anyone you don’t know unless either your Mom or I are around, okay?”

The girl nodded, again looking apologetic. “Sorry Pop-Pop. I snuck up and touched Jesse’s tail when I saw him standing here but I didn’t ask if I could and I gave him a scare.

Then with her face brightening, she added, “But he wasn’t mad and told me it was okay. Then he showed me his ears and then let me touch them too.”

Oh God, thought Jesse. The man, who despite his age looked like he could murder him without even breaking a sweat, no doubt now thought he was some sort pervert or something, trying to lure her away with his ‘doggy’ like appendages.

As such, in that moment he very much wanted to bolt.

“Okay. Well, why don’t you go open the store and I’ll be in in a minute.”

“Sure, Pop-Pop!” Kaylee cried happily, taking a set of keys out of her pocket and opening the door, “See you inside, Jesse!”

Jesse doubted it very much as the man started to approach him.

Jesse took a couple of steps back, his palms raised. “Hey, uh, look. I didn’t like mean anything by… I was just waiting here, and your granddaughter grabbed bm tail and it, uh startled me. And about the whole letting her touch my ears thing, I-”

“I’m sorry that Kaylee grabbed your tail. She can get a little overexcited at times. About dogs especially. And you being what you are, well…”

Jesse blinked. Well, that certainly wasn’t the reaction he had been expecting.

“Uh, it’s cool, yo. Like no harm done or anything,” he replied, relaxing somewhat.

“I would appreciate it however if you didn’t smoke in front of my store,” the older man said, looking at the cigarette lying on the ground next to him, the snow along the store entryway having been cleared away to allow easy access.

“Oh, shit, sorry!” Jesse apologised, quickly picking it up, “I like dropped it when your-”

“I assume you being outside here like this, you were waiting for the store to open and weren’t just loitering?”

“Yeah, of course!” Jesse hurriedly replied, still ill at ease, despite the older man not laying into him.

“You, uh, like sell flu medicine and stuff right?”

He nodded. “We do”

“Awesome. I need to buy some.”

The man stared at him, and Jesse realising a possible misconception that may be forming in his mind found himself quickly blurting out, “It ain’t like I’m going to use it to make meth or anything, yo! It’s uh, for my friend, he’s come down with the cold or the flu or something. He’s too sick to leave the house right now so I wanted to get something for him.”

A friend? Was that what Walt was to him? He wasn’t sure how else to put it, not very well being able to say, ‘the guy he had blackmailed into temporarily letting him live with him’. But he did really like the man and he thought maybe Walt liked him too, even if it was just a little. Who knew, of course. There was a good chance he was simply being delusional.

Quickly he shooed the thought away. Currently he had more important things to think about, like how the pseudo in cold medicine was often used as a substitute ingredient to make crystal meth.

Before Walt started working for the Salamanca’s, it’s what their previous cook had used. And Jesse really didn’t want the intimidating man before him to think he was going to use it to made meth.

As such, Jesse found himself sweating.

Apparently, his worry was in vein, as sighing, the man said, “Kid, whatever you do with what you buy from here is up to you. As long as it doesn’t impact my family, I really couldn’t care less.”

And then brushing past him and entering the store, he added, “Well, come on in if you’re buying something.”

His heart still hammering in chest Jesse followed.

“Welcome!” cried Kaylee from behind the counter, clearly standing on her tiptoes to appear taller. As that face looked up at him, Jesse found himself starting to calm down a little, and he gave her a smile in return.

“Medicines are over there,” said the man, pointing just ahead before putting on a green apron.

Jesse picked up a couple of boxes, not knowing how much he would need. “Is this your store? I mean, do you own the place?”

“I do.”

That probably meant that the man before him name was Mike.

Jesse glanced around. The store appeared a lot bigger on the inside than it did on the out.

“Anything else?” the storeowner asked as Jesse placed the boxes on the counter.

“Uh, packet of cigs. And… Oh.” Reaching to a rack behind him, Jesse picked up a couple of bags of Funyuns; it being days since his last fix so to speak.

“That all?” Mike asked, as he rang the items up.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Guessing this is your Grandkid?” said Jesse gesturing to Kaylee as the man bagged his purchases.

“My one and only,” replied Mike, “Don’t think the store would survive without her help. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”

“Don’t be silly, Pop-Pop!” the girl laughed, “You would do fine without me.”

“Oh, I don’t think I could. You just being here helps me out lots,” said Mike, smiling down at her.

Jesse found himself breaking into a grin, it clear that the man before him loved the kid dearly.

“Hey, uh, thanks, yo,” said Jesse to Mike, unsure if it was clear to the man or not what he was referring to. But as well as being polite or whatever with the whole customer service thing, Jesse was mainly thankful that the man hadn’t assumed that he had been trying to lure away his Granddaughter, or had refused to serve him.; the latter having been something he had experienced on several occasions before.

“Just doing my job,” Mike replied, leaving it ambiguous.

“Bye, Jesse! Sorry about pulling your tail, and thanks for letting me see and touch your ears,” cried Kaylee from behind the counter, standing next to her Grandfather, “Come back again!”

Jesse gave a her a small wave, and at the mention of his ears, quickly shoved his beanie back on over the top of his head, having completely forgotten that he wasn’t wearing it.

And so finally getting what he had come to the town for, Jesse hurried back to the cabin and more importantly back to Walt.

 

It took Jesse slightly longer to get back despite breaking into a run for a small portion of the journey. Apparently, a month of being stuck indoors, mainly stationary, had softened him…

While wanting to collapse onto the sofa when he walked in the door, he instead went into the kitchen and put on the stove where he proceeded to toast some bread.

Then knocking lightly on Walt’s door, he opened it up and went in.

Placing the plate with the toast on it and a glass of water on the bedside table, Jesse bent down and gently shook the man awake.

“Yo,” he said as Walt blearily opened his eyes.

“Jesse, is that you?”

“Yep.”

“I got up to go to the bathroom what must have been a few hours ago. You weren’t here. I thought maybe you had…”

He trailed off, not finishing the sentence. Jesse tilted his head curiously, wondering what he had intended on saying but didn’t pry further.

“Uh, yeah, I went out to get you some flu medicine,” Jesse told him, taking a couple of capsules from his pocket, “You didn’t have any in the house so…”

“Where did you go to get them?” Walt asked, his brows furrowed as he pushed himself up.

“A store in the town over. It’s owned by a guy called Mike.”

“Did you take my car?” Walt asked through a cough and Jesse winced sympathetically.

“Nah, I can drive but I figured it’d be too risky what with not having a proper license on me and all.”

“You mean walked all the way there?” Walt questioned, sounding surprised.

“Hey, remember I was a runner. That distance is nothing for me,” Jesse reassured him with a smile. Or well, in his usual condition he was. Currently, he was pretty damn tired from his trek, but he wasn’t going to tell Walt that.

“Anyway, you gotta eat something first before you take these,” Jesse ordered, grabbing and holding out the small plate of buttered toast to him, “It ain’t good to like take pills on like an empty stomach or whatever.”

Walt looked momentarily taken aback before his expression shifted to one of slight amusement. And taking the plate from Jesse, he started to munch on the toast.

He didn’t finish it all, his appetite not great at that moment, but it was something and so after feeling that he had eaten enough, Jesse held out the pills and the glass to him.

Putting the medicine in his mouth, Walt swallowed and drank all the water.

“I’ll get you some more water,” said Jesse, taking the glass from him and standing up, “Gotta stay hydrated, right?”

“Jesse,” Walt started.

The boy turned around. “Yeah?”

“Thank you,” said Walt, a small smile on his face, “I appreciate you…well, going out your way for me.”

Jesse felt his cheeks burn slightly as a strange warmth enveloped him upon hearing Walt’s words. “Hey, it’s like no problem, yo. Don’t worry about it.”

And not used to whatever he was feeling, he quickly hurried into the kitchen to get some more water.

 

Despite, being asleep most of the time, Jesse found himself checking on Walt regularly throughout the night, unable to relax from worry, desperately wanting the man to be better. He hated seeing people he cared about ill. And by this point Jesse was also willing to accept that in the past month, taking him completely by surprise, he had come to care for him a great deal.

Walt’s appetite was more or less non-existent but Jesse knew that he needed to eat at least something. He recalled his aunt, who had a lot of soup when her appetite suffered from the chemo. While it was mostly tinned, occasionally Jesse would make some for her; chicken noodle being her favourite. It was also the de facto soup that people had when they had the flu.

There wasn’t any chicken or noodles in the cabin however and so Jesse decided to go out get some ingredients. Again, it would take several hours but Walt was asleep and so Jesse chose to venture out into the next town over. He needed to get back into shape after all, and the walk would do him good.

Once he arrived, he opened the store door, the young girl he had met for the first time the previous day, eyes lighting up the moment she saw him.

“Jesse! You came back” she cried excitedly, rushing out from under the counter to greet him.

Jesse smiled, unable to remember the last time anyone looked quite so happy to see him.  Although, he did think Walt seemed sort of relieved when he had gotten back yesterday…

“Hey there,” he greeted in return.

Then looking as if she just remembered something, Kaylee said, “Oh! Welcome to our store!”

Jesse chuckled. “Thanks.”

“Hey, shouldn’t you be in school?” Jesse asked as he glanced at the clock, it being one in the afternoon.

“It’s a Saturday, silly,” the girl giggled, “So, I’m helping Pop-Pop with the store.”

“Saturday, huh?” Apparently, since living in the cabin, he had really lost track of the days.

“Well, you’re doing a great job,” said Jesse, resisting the urge to reach out and ruffle her hair.

Kaylee beamed up at him.

The store owner, her grandfather, stood behind the counter, ever watchful, and Jesse quickly grabbed what he needed.

“I’m making soup for my, uh, roommate,” Jesse found himself saying, hoping to emphasise again the fact that he hadn’t bought the cold medicine the previous day in order to make meth.

“You’re not from around here,” said Mike, a statement more than a question.

“Uh, yeah, I’m currently staying at a cabin a few miles up the hill that way,” Jesse replied, pointing in the man’s direction.

“I know the place. An old customer of mines used to stay there,” he said as he rung up the items, seemingly unconcerned that a mutt was now staying there.

“You drive here?”

“Walked.”

“That’s quite a trek.”

“Kinda. But I like the walk. Plus, if it helps Wal…” Jesse trailed off, feeling slightly embarrassed from the warm feeling that enveloped him as he thought of the man.

Mike gave him a curious look but didn’t query further.

“You bought some medicine yesterday. Does that mean your roommate is sick?” Kaylee asked, looking up at him.

“Yeah, he has a flu, so I wanna make him some soup so he’ll feel better as soon as possible.”

“I bet your soup tastes real nice,” Kaylee told him sweetly.

“Yeah, well, I haven’t made it in a real long time so I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out,” Jesse replied, somewhat bashfully.

“Jesse, before you go, can I touch your ears again?”

Her grandfather frowned. “Kaylee, come on now, that’s not polite.”

“Nah, it’s cool, yo,” said Jesse, pulling off his beanie and bending down to her level as he had done so the previous day.

The girl giggled as she gently stroked them. And again, Jesse had to admit, that it felt rather nice.

“Well, I better get going,” said Jesse, getting to his feet and putting his beanie back on.

Glancing down at Kaylee, he asked. “Hey, is it cool if I come visit you and your store again?”

“Of course!” she answered, enthusiastically.

“I hope your roommate feels better, kid” Mike told him as he opened the door to leave after saying goodbye.

Jesse smiled. “Yeah, me too.”

 

As soon as Jesse arrived back at the cabin, Jesse went to check on Walt. Just as he had left him, the older man was still fast asleep, although Jesse had no way of knowing if he had been up at all while he was out. Afterwards, Jesse made quick work of making the soup. As he did so, a melancholic feeling of nostalgia welled up in him as he went through the numerous preparation steps, the last time he had made it, having been for his aunt after all.

Once finished, Jesse knocked on Walt’s door. By this point Walt was awake for which Jesse felt thankful that he didn’t have to disturb him.

He winced in sympathy as he heard the older man’s cough. “Jesse?”

“Yeah, it’s me. I uh, made you some soup,” said Jesse as he placed the bowl down on the bedside table and switched on the lamp.

“Soup?”

“Yeah, it’s chicken noodle. Though, it’s been awhile since I made it so I ain’t sure how good it is or nothing,” said Jesse, feeling weirdly self-conscious. It wasn’t like he put much pride in his cooking skills. Nevertheless, he found himself really wanting Walt to like it,

“You haven’t eaten anything since yesterday so you should like really have something.”

Shuffling so he was sitting up, Jesse then handed over the bowl, Walt taking it from him.

“Careful, it might be a little hot.”

Blowing softly on it, Walt placed the spoon in his mouth and took a sip as Jesse watched on expectantly.

“Is it, uh, okay?”

Walt smiled gently. “It’s good, Jesse. Thank you.”

Jesse’s face brightened as he felt his ears perk up while his cheeks reddened.  How long had it been since someone last praised him for something?

“Really? You ain’t just saying that, right?” Jesse asked, somewhat hesitantly.

He heard Walt chuckle. “I promise, I’m not.”

“Did you pick up the ingredients to make it yesterday when you went to get that flu medication for me?”

“Nah, I went out again today. Same store as before.”

Walt frowned, looking slightly troubled. “You didn’t need to go so far out of your way just for me.”

“It’s fine. I wanted to,” Jesse quickly replied before somewhat embarrassedly adding, “Plus my aunt always said my soup made her feel better, so I figured it might make you feel the same way.”

Walt took another spoonful and smiled once more. “Well, I think you might be right about it helping.”

As Walt ate the rest of the soup, kneeling next to his bedside, Jesse proceeded to tell him about going out with his tail on show, the very first time he had done so in years and the young girl he had seen earlier and met the day before.

“She’s really cute. She, like, really likes my ears and petting them. She’s not scared of at me at all,” Jesse said somewhat happily.

While there were kids out there that were intrigued by what he was, having never seen a mutt before, many more were fearful of him, told by their parents of how dangerous mutts were, of how they kidnapped small children and did other things Jesse considered absolute nonsense. Not that Jesse had any mutt friends, having grown up in a completely different background. But from what he did know, humans, normal humans, were just as bad and that was with the whole lack of prejudice and hatred directed towards them on a daily basis.

As such, for Kaylee not be frightened of him was indeed a breath of fresh air.

“She sounds sweet,” Walt agreed.

“Yeah. Plus, she calls me a doggy-person instead of a mutt, which is sorta weird but also sorta adorable. Her Grandad, Mike who owns the store, comes across kinda like a hard-ass and stuff but overall seems like a pretty decent guy. For one, he totally didn’t freak out the moment he saw Kaylee talking to me. Or well, at least no more than usual when seeing your Grandkid talking to some stranger.”

“Doggy-person, huh? That does sound a lot nicer than mutt,” Walt chuckled, and Jesse found himself wondering if such talk was reminding him of his own daughter; knowing that without Walt directly saying it, that the older man missed her greatly.

“Hey, you told me that your aunt had a nickname for you. That she didn’t call you a mutt,” said Walt, placing down the empty bowl of soup, “What was it?”

Jesse was surprised that Walt even remembered, especially given he was ill and out of sorts.

“Uh, it’s kind lame and pretty embarrassing, yo,” Jesse replied, shuffling awkwardly on his knees.

“I’m sure it can’t be that bad. No worse than, ‘doggy-person’, right? Come on, indulge me, I’ll ill after all,” Walt insisted.

Jesse pouted, the mention of illness making him feel as if he were unable to reject his request. “F-Fine. She used to call me, her ‘pup’...”

Despite his cough, and achy sounding voice Walt let out a loud laugh, to which Jesse’s face turned an instant shade of bright red.

“I told you it was lame and embarrassing, asshole!” cried Jesse, trying to glare, but it seemingly having no effect on the other man as he continued to laugh.

“Pup, huh? That is a cute nickname. And you’re right, it does sound a lot nicer than mutt.”

“It’s just her nickname for me. It’s not like it changes what I am or anything,” he said with a resigned sigh.

“Maybe not, but still…” Walt replied, sounding sympathetic.

Jesse wasn’t sure what else to say, not that it would have mattered as he was quickly rendered speechless when all of a sudden Walt reached out and gently placed his hand on top of his head. Jesse yelped at the unexpected contact but he didn’t pull away as the man’s large hand started gently stroking his ears and his hair.

“Well, regardless, I wanted to say thank you for taking care of me these past few days. I appreciate it, _pup_.”

Walt’s fingers felt so wonderful against him as they ran through his hair, their tips rubbing lightly against his ears. Again, Jesse was so taken aback by the action and words that he wasn’t quite sure how to react or respond.

After a minute or so, his eyes which had been fixated on the floor, finally glanced upwards to see Walt looking at him, a strange but fond look on his face; a look for which had he not already been kneeling down, doubted his legs would been able to continue to support him.

And for the first time in years, Jesse felt his tail start to shake behind him.

His eyes widened and he quickly shot up, his face flushed even darker than before.

“You-You, should take your flu medication! It’s been like several hours, right? I’ll go grab you a glass of water.”

And just like that, Jesse shot out of the room and closed it behind him, his heart hammering in his chest as he leaned against the kitchen counter for support.

His tail had stopped moving but the feeling from Walt’s hand on his head still remained, and tentatively he reached out placed his own hand on top of his head as if Walt’s touch was something tangible and to be treasured.

He was struggling slightly to breathe, but it certainly wasn’t an unpleasant sensation and as he let out a small laugh, a smile broke out on his face.

He took a few minutes to regain his composure afterwards of which he finally managed to pour out a glass of water for Walt.

And taking a deep breath, he went back in.

“Are you okay?” Walt asked despite being the one resigned to bedrest, “Your face looks flushed. Are you coming down the flu as well?

Jesse shook his head. “Nah. I feel totally great,” Jesse answered, forcing himself to ignore the fact that in a week or so he would be leaving the small cabin and subsequently Walt for good.

As if it hadn’t been hard enough for him to accept before…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel so weird having Jesse refer to Walt by his first name but I figure that without the long standing teacher/student relationship in which the name 'Mr. White' was ingrained into Jesse, it'd make more sense in this universe for Jesse to call him Walt, especially since they haven't know each other all that long.
> 
> As always, thanks very much for reading. Comments and kudos are super appreciated. :)


	9. Chapter 9

Walt’s flu remained for several more days and throughout that time, Jesse continued to take care of him, checking on him regularly, cooking for him and making sure he took his flu medication. Jesse as it turned out, was a perfect caretaker, a far cry from his initial impression of the boy. Undoubtedly, a lot of the ways had Walt perceived him had changed since then.

As things went, Walt was positive that the last time he had been doted on so intently had been from his mother as a small child. And while it was slightly embarrassing being fussed over so much, again he continued to enjoy Jesse’s presence. Skyler had of course, taken care of him and his needs through the worst of the chemo, but with a teenage son, a job of her own and a new born child, there was only so much time she could actually dedicate to him.

He had given Skyler a call, letting her know that he was ill and would be unlikely to visit the house for at least a week or so. While he had expected Skyler to be pleased upon hearing about his absence, instead Walt thought he detected a note of worry in her voice. Apparently, despite everything that had happened, she still cared about him, even offering to come over one day with some stew or soup.

He had smiled faintly at that, thinking of Jesse’s soup which had been so surprisingly good that the boy had ended up going out to buy more ingredients to make it again one it was all finished.

“It’s fine,” Walt had assured her, “I’m managing okay. Plus, it wouldn’t be good for you to catch my flu and have to take time off of work or pass it on to the kids.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she had replied, sounding surprised that he hadn’t taken her up on her offer, “Well, if you change your mind, let me know.”

While Walt would have been happy for Skyler to visit him even if it was only out of a sense of courtesy, there was the issue of the young man currently residing in his cabin. While he was sure he could come up with some reason to explain Jesse’s presence, even something like the boy getting lost in the woods and Walt letting him use his phone to contact family, he had a sinking suspicion that Skyler would simply see through the lie; something she seemed to excel at, or at least when it came to him anyway.

Jesse in the meantime, with little else to do – other than venturing out for several hours to the general store the next town over, and even then, that was mainly for Walt’s benefit – seemed devoted to him completely, wanting to help out as much as he could. And while Walt had never actually owned a dog in his life, the boy’s behaviour very much reminded him of the actual animal. It was endearing to say the least. He supposed it wasn’t surprising that mutts – or at least in Jesse’s case – shared some traits of the creature they were most referenced to. And while there was no concrete evidence, Walt was still of the opinion that mutts had come into being as a result of human creation based off of the manipulation of genetics and gene splicing rather than a random occurrence of nature.

As for Walt’s comfort, Jesse had also brought the small television set from the living-room into the bedroom so that he could watch it without needing to get up. Feeling bad about Jesse missing out on the small form of entertainment the cabin actually had to offer, Walt let Jesse lay on the bed next to him as he watched TV; something which may have seemed stranger if not for the fact that they had actually already shared a bed together when sleeping; Walt having even awoken one morning to find the boy snuggled comfortably into his chest fast asleep.

Walt couldn’t help but smile at the memory, Jesse having been so flustered and embarrassed at the time. Although, really, he still got that way given that Walt enjoyed bringing the incident up regularly just to tease him.

“Yo, you sure you don’t want me to give Saul a call to like look you over?” Jesse had asked him worriedly on the fourth day of his illness as he knelt down next to the bed.

“I’ll be fine, I assure you,” Walt told him, and seeing hunched Jesse’s position, he ended up recalling his action from the previous day where he had stretched out and stroked the boy’s head.

Just as Jesse had felt after he had fallen out of bed and then tripping so Walt had to catch him, Walt found himself feeling embarrassed by the gesture.

After eating the soup that Jesse had made the yesterday, he remembered hearing him talking about the young girl he had met at the general store who had reached out and touched his ears. And Walt in his flu-stricken state – his usual dictations of logic not quite with him – had decided it would be nice to do the same thing while he offered the boy words of reassurance. It certainly hadn’t been because he was jealous. A fifty-year-old man being envious of an eight-year girl would just be pathetic if not humiliating after all.

At the time, it had simply like a good idea…

Nevertheless, the embarrassment he experienced from remembering petting Jesse’s head didn’t seem to be enough to deter him from doing the exact same thing again. Both Jesse’s hair and especially his ears just felt so soft that it was difficult to resist reaching out and touching him.

In hindsight, it was greatly reassuring for Walt that the boy hadn’t protested the action or flinched away from his touch. Instead he had felt Jesse’s ears respond to his fingers as he massaged the tips against them. Walt had also thought that he had seen Jesse’s usual limb tail start to move behind him, a sight he had never witnessed before.

It was only later that he really registered it had happened, being rather out of it the first time he witnessed it, unable to quite tell if it had been purely his own imagination.

After Jesse had brought him some soup for lunch, just as the day before, he reached out and gently stroked his head. And of course, just as with the day before, Jesse’s face had turned a bright shade of red.

The second time however, there was no doubt about Jesse’s tail coming to life, and subtly Walt had tried to lean over the bed to get a proper look.

Jesse, meanwhile, had looked mortified as if he had just been caught committing an insidious act.

“Uh, hey, I should like let you finish your soup and get some sleep,” Jesse said, quickly shooting up.

“No, stay!” Walt urged in response, his hand shooting out to grab Jesse’s wrist; knowing that if he didn’t stop him, the boy would bolt from the room.

Jesse had looked taken aback at the action, and Walt had to admit he felt the same way, unsure why the thought of Jesse leaving bothered him so.

“Sorry,” Walt said, releasing his grip, “I… I would just appreciate some company is all. Being in this room by myself, stuck in bed like this, it gets a little, well…”

“Sure, okay. Uh, no problem,” Jesse replied, still looking somewhat surprised as he tentatively knelt back down.

Walt had been sad to see that after that, Jesse’s tail had stopped moving

“Hey, uh, this soup is great by the way,” Walt stated a few minutes later, trying to break the uncomfortable silence that had descended upon them, “I can see why it was your aunt’s favourite.”

Once more Jesse’s ears perk up at his words.

“Really?” Jesse asked hopefully.

Walt smiled again. “Really,” he said as he had reached one hand out to touch his head.

And so, over the next several days, Walt continued indulging in the gesture. Perhaps it could be viewed as slightly patronising, like a father ruffling his son’s hair to show that they had done a good job on something – he had certainly done it to Junior a lot while he was growing up – or even worse, a master petting his dog. However, in the end, Walt couldn’t seem to stop himself, liking the feel of the boy’s soft ears under his hand as well as the swishing of his tail that often followed.

He also knew that despite Jesse’s embarrassment, that he too liked it, and occasionally for no reason at all, lying on Walt’s bed watching TV, Walt would unconsciously reach out to him.

It was the closest thing to comfort Walt had experienced in a long time, and even without Jesse saying anything, he had a sneaking suspicion that it was the same for him.

“It doesn’t like weird you out?” Jesse questioned one evening out of the blue as he lay on the bed next to Walt.

“What doesn’t?” Walt asked, his own eyes closed; half asleep.

He felt Jesse shrug. “I dunno, my tail moving…And I guess, well my ears too? Some people find them real creepy.”

“Of course, it doesn’t,” Walt answered, hoping to alleviate Jesse’s worry, knowing how self-conscious he was about them. Growing up in a world where you were different and considered ‘abnormal’ had certainly done a number on the young man, even with the love and encouragement he had received from his aunt.

And so, hoping to reassure as well as lighten the mood a little, Walt added, “Don’t worry about it, pup.”

Pup. Since learning it was his aunt’s nickname for him, Walt, the past couple of days had found himself referring to Jesse as that in his mind as well as out loud on occassion. Firstly, it sounded a whole lot nicer than ‘mutt’, and secondly, it provided Walt yet another way to tease him.

“I knew I shouldn’t have told you that!” Jesse cried next to him, folding his arms.

And even with his eyes closed, Walt could hear the pout in his voice.

Walt chuckled.

“I think it’s cute,” he teased.

“You are such an asshole…”

Nevertheless, as he finally dozed off, Walt was almost positive he heard a quiet whisper of ‘Thanks’ from beside him.

 

On the sixth day, Walt was feeling much better but still rather tired and so had decided to take a short nap in the hope of recovering some energy. However, he found himself suddenly startled from his sleep, awoken by a loud thud followed by shouting.

“Let me the hell go, asshole!” he heard Jesse scream from the living room, sounding as if he were struggling with someone. Almost instantly Walt leapt out of bed, rushing to the bedroom door and shoving it open, paying no heed to the danger that lay outside.

“Jesse!” he yelled the boy’s name panickily, and while he hadn’t had time to consider what he would find, it certainly wasn’t the sight before him.

Jesse was being helplessly pinned against the floor on his stomach, held down by no other than his own brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, a gun in his free hand.

Walt stood there gaping for several moments as his brain tried to process the scene before him, it only being when he heard a pained groan from Jesse that he quickly realised he needed to do something.

“Hank, stop!” shouted Walt.

“Oh, hey, Walt,” Hank said casually as he glanced up, alerted to Walt’s presence.

“Don’t worry, I got this,” he assured, keeping a tight grip on Jesse as he placed his gun back into its holster, “Found this mangy mutt breaking into your cabin just as I pulled up. Good thing I showed up when I did, right?”

“I wasn’t breaking in, asshole!” yelled Jesse, his voice slightly muffled as he continued struggling beneath Hank.

Hank laughed out loud. “Yeah, course you weren’t. You were just dropping by to visit my good friend here for some afternoon tea, right?”

Then turning back to Walt, Hank, said, “But seriously, Walt, I don’t know how long you’re planning on staying way out here but you gotta get better security for this place, even if it is in the middle of nowhere. Makes it an easy target for freaks of nature like this who happen by. Upgrade your locks. You definitely need to if a little shit stain like this one can get in. I’m barely touching him and he can’t even get free.”

Walt frowned. From the pained expression on Jesse’s face, that was clearly not the case.

“Not that I’m saying I don’t think you couldn’t take this weedy mutt on by yourself if you’d been awake, and you know, not ill,” Hank quickly added as if he thought that’s what was bothering him.

Jesse meanwhile continued writhing against the floor desperately trying to get free.

Walt tried again. “Hank, he wasn’t -”

“I’ll arrest him and take him down to the station. Make sure he gets what he deserves,” Hank reassured, pressing down harder and causing Jesse to cry out in pain again.

“Hank, let him go!” Walt demanded, and at last his words finally seemed to get through to him as Hank’s head shot up to look at him, a shocked expression on his face.

“Like I said, he wasn’t breaking in here. He was…”

Walt trailed off. Even worse than Skyler finding out about Jesse being here, was his law enforcing brother-in-law knowing. Especially given that in the past he had made it quite clear his distaste for mutts, Hank very much of the opinion that all mutts were criminals. And if they hadn’t yet committed a crime? Well, one day, they sure as hell would.

In other words, they were nothing more than latent criminals.

Since meeting and getting to know Jesse, Walt was far more inclined to believe that mutts carrying out criminal acts had much more to do with them being victims of their circumstances rather than them being inherently bad. However, now wasn’t exactly the best time to get into a sociological debate. Not that he thought that Hank would actually take anything he said on board of course…

“Come on, Walt. Spit it out,” Hank urged, a hint of agitation in his voice.

Despite the awkward situation Walt found him in, he couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the pup as Jesse stared up at him from his forced position on the floor. He had finally stopped trying to get free, seemingly just as interested in hearing what he had to say as Hank was.

Walt sighed, seeing no other way around it. “Hank, he, uh, Jesse that is, stays here. Or, well, at least for the time being.”

And suddenly Walt was reminded that with Jesse’s ribs almost healed the boy would only be living with him a short time longer.

He didn’t have time to dwell on that disappointing piece of information however given that Hank was currently staring at him as if he had in all seriousness just announced himself as being the king of some ancient empire. And for a brief moment Walt couldn’t help but wonder what the expression on Hank’s face would be like if he revealed himself to have been the one behind the blue-sky meth.

Staring up him from the floor, Jesse, too had a shocked look on his face, as if he couldn’t quite believe to what Walt had just admitted to.

Hank chuckled humourlessly, “Wow, good one. You had me going there for a second, Walt, I gotta tell.

“Now just let me grab my cuffs,” the DEA agent said as he reached into his back pocket, “And I’ll get this little shit out of the way for you.”

“Hank. I…I wasn’t joking. Jesse really is staying here. He wasn’t trying to break in, he was coming-”

Walt stopped. He had been about to use the word ‘home’ but that wasn’t exactly true. After all, Jesse didn’t technically live here, their arrangement for Jesse staying with him a temporary thing.

Until recently, Walt had barely considered the place ‘home’ himself. And even then, he only started to feel that way once Jesse had started staying; someone who of course would soon be leaving.

Walt glanced down at him, their eyes meeting. Once again, it frightened Walt how important Jesse had become to him in such a short space of time.

“Please Hank, let him go,” Walt asked, almost pleadingly.

Hank continued looking at him as if he had lost his mind. But no doubt in thanks to Walt being his brother-in-law – although not for much longer what with the divorce papers going through – and still being on good terms with him, Hank begrudgingly released Jesse, undoing the hand cuffs he had placed on him.

Hank was clearly not happy about it as was evident on his face as he stood up. Walt ignored him however, immediately rushing to Jesse’s side.

“Jesse are you alright?” he asked as Jesse pushed himself up, it taking everything in Walt’s power not to reach out to him.

“Of course, I’m not fine! I just had this sadistic prick barge in here with a gun pointed at me and tackle me to the ground for no fucking reason!” Jesse growled, turning to glare at Hank.

Hank looked equally furious and edging towards Jesse, Walt quickly placed himself protectively in front of the younger man.

“Hank, please calm down,” Walt urged, “I can explain everything,”

“Explain why you have some frickin mutt living you?” he snorted in disbelief, running his hand over his head.

Truthfully Walt was unsure exactly how he was going to explain it. However, seemingly during the time he was trying to figure it out, Hank had already jumped to his own conclusion.

“God, Walt, I know you and Skyler are going through a rough patch at the moment, and it sure as hell has to be tough not getting to see her and the kids every day. Not to mention you being isolated all the way out here… But letting a mutt stay here to be your pet? That’s really-”

“I’m not his fucking pet!” Walt heard Jesse scream from behind him, so much fury in his voice that it shocked him.

“I’m nobody’s pet, bitch!”

“Bitch? That’s a good one!” cried Hank, laughing out loudly, “Guess even mutts can have a sense of humour, eh, Walt?”

Jesse took a step forward and Walt saw that the pup’s ears where laid flat against his head and his teeth bared so that his sharp incisors where on clear view. For a moment Walt was terrified that Jesse was about to lunge at and attack Hank, which given that the man had a gun on him was not a great idea.

He desperately needed to defuse the situation.

“Jesse!” Walt cried, quickly grabbing him by the shoulders, and then more quietly he said, “Jesse. It’s okay, I’ll take care of this. Everything will be fine.”

Jesse gave him a long hard stare before sighing, shrugging Walt’s hands off of his shoulders. “Whatever. I’m going for a walk.”

And before Walt could say anything in response, Jesse was striding past Hank. He opened the front door and left, slamming it behind him.

Walt winced at the sound, a knot of guilt in his stomach. He hated Jesse looking at him with such anger in his eyes.

Still, Walt felt it was probably for the best that Jesse wasn’t around for the what would no doubt be an incredibly uncomfortable talk with his brother-in-law.

Hank, after watching Jesse storm out, turned back to Walt with such an utterly perplexed expression on his face that in any other circumstance Walt would have found himself hard pressed not to laugh.

“Alright, Walt, enlighten me here, buddy. What exactly the hell is going on? Is that mutt really your pet or-”

“Of course he’s not my pet!” Walt cried, surprised at how angry he had gotten from the insinuation that he somehow owned ‘Jesse’, not to mention that he was simply allowing him to stay because he was lonely and missing his family.

Sure, Jesse possessed a tail as well as pair of ears that resembled a dog, but the fact was he was still a human being, not some animal to be owned.

‘But then to Hank, he isn’t human at all,’ he reminded himself, feeling another strong burst of sympathy for the pup.

“He’s…” Walt sighed.

“Several weeks ago, I hit him with my car. He was injured. Nothing too serious but he did end up with a few broken ribs. He had nowhere to go so I thought at least until his ribs healed up, I could let him stay here.”

Hank was still staring at him disbelievingly. “What? So, you hit some strange mutt with your car and out of the kindness of your own heart you decide let him live with you? I gotta say, Walt, even if it was an actual human you hit, I find that pretty hard to believe.”

Walt couldn’t blame him. While he wasn’t exactly considered to be a cold-hearted monster, he was aware that you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would let a complete stranger into their house, even if you had hit them with your car.

Still, it wasn’t as if he could exactly tell Hank the truth; that Jesse had blackmailed him into letting him stay. As while it would place the boy in an even more negative light in Hank’s eyes, the DEA agent would of course also want to know what some random mutt could possibly have on someone as straight laced as Walt – at least in Hank’s mind – to hold over his head.

“I know that it sounds a bit peculiar.”

“Yeah, understatement of the century there,” Hank snorted.

“But,” Walt continued, “the accident was my fault, and I, well, felt guilty. I was having a bad day, and speeding.”

The fact that he had been speeding was true at least.

“I was venting it out on the old motor so to speak. I was able to slow down in time so he wasn’t killed, but I did knock him back quite a bit, and like I said before, he ended up with a few broken ribs as a result.”

“Even so, Walt… While I’m not exactly gonna give you kudos for speeding, accidents happen all the time, but you don’t see the people responsible bringing the victims into their homes to live, let alone if they’re mutts.”

“I know, it seems ridiculous,” Walt admitted, “It’s just…”

Walt trailed off, remembering what Hank had said previously. And so, despite knowing that he would feel humiliated and most likely regret it later, with a sigh, he said, “You were right, Hank, about what you said earlier.

At the time, I was really missing Skyler and the kids. Skyler, she wasn’t letting me visit the house, and I was well, _lonely_. And when I hit that mutt-” In his head he corrected the word to ‘pup’,” with my car and learned that he had well nowhere to go, I felt at the very least I should offer him my couch to sleep on until he was fit enough to get back on his feet and leave. Plus, it would give me company. But I assure you, it had absolutely nothing to do with him being, well, what he is. Or wanting a _pet_ or anything like that. I just wanted to have someone around. And I admit, it was probably poor judgement on my part, but again, you have to understand, at the time-”

“Yeah, no, no, I get it, I get,” Hank interrupted, appearing more than a little uncomfortable.

If it was one thing that Walt had learned about Hank over the years it was that his brother-in-law didn’t deal well with emotional honesty.

Nevertheless, he surprised Walt when guiltily he said, “Jeez, Walt, I’m sorry. I mean Marie mentioned that Skyler was being all weird about not wanting you over to the house and seeing the kids, so I thought to myself, hey, I’ll go over visit Walt, you know, bring some of the old Schraderbräu, see how you’re holding up. But shit, I’ve just been so busy with work, and…”

“Well, I don’t know if you heard but I took down those Salamanca bastards, or well, _most_ of them anyway,” said Hank with a sigh of annoyance.

Walt knew he would probably count as one of the ‘most’ who had escaped, what with him being the manufacturer of the purest meth on the market.

For both his and Hank’s sake, he hoped the man never found out. Not that he had any intention of ever cooking meth again so he supposed that at least worked in his favour.

“Anyway, there are a number of new ‘crews’ trying to take their place so I’ve been trying to track them down before they become even more of problem, but first you gotta have something on them and without anything concrete you have-”

“Hank, Hank, it’s fine,” said Walt, this time interrupting Hank, “Don’t worry about it. I understand, it’s your job.”

“Yeah, well, I still feel bad,” Hank replied, “Even more so now that I’ve learnt that you’ve been reduced to living with a mutt,”

“He’s actually been very good company,” Walt found himself replying defensively, unsure if it was the being ‘reduced to’ comment or the implication that there was somehow something wrong with Jesse, that offended him more.

Hank looked slightly taken aback. “Sure, well, as long as you still want him here. Seriously, though, if he’s overstayed his welcome, just say the word and I’ll haul his ass outta here, no problemo.”

“It’s fine, Hank. He…well, he shouldn’t be here very much longer anyway,” replied Walt, trying to mask the sadness in his voice.

“That’s a relief. The sooner he’s gone the better. Not good to be around those types. Junkies, criminals, mutts, they’re all the same. They’ll take advantage of and screw you over every which way if you let em, Walt,” lectured Hank, the distaste clearly evident in his voice, “Which again is why I’m offering to get rid of him.”

“I’m fine, Hank. Like I said, he’ll be leaving shortly anyway.”

“Just make sure, he doesn’t try con his way into trying to get you to let him stay longer. Once you think he should be gone, kick him the hell out. And if you need help, I’m a phone call away.”

Walt didn’t reply and a moment of awkward silence descended on them.

“Anyway, I better head. Need to catch up on some work back at the office,” said Hank, shrugging the lack of response off.

“No problem,” Walt replied, thankful that the unpleasant conversation was now over.

As he walked Hank to the door, Walt paused, suddenly realising something.

“Hank, why did you come here today anyway?” he asked curiously before adding, “Not that I’m not happy to see you, of course.”

“Oh crap, I almost forgot. Marie would have killed me if I came home with it still in the car,” said Hank with a laugh that suggested he had just dodged a bullet, “Marie made a casserole last night. Delicious but she made way too much as always. Skyler, she well, mentioned to her that you were sick but that you didn’t want her coming around just in case she caught what you have and passed it on to the kids. Anyway, we had all these leftovers and God knows cooking for yourself when you’re sick is a bitch, so we figured you could do with a little something.”

Walt was curious what Hank’s reaction would be if he knew Jesse had been tending to his meals the pass few days and that he hadn’t had to do anything at all.

Inwardly he chuckled. The pup really was the perfect little caretaker. Nevertheless, not wanting to get back onto the conversation of ‘the mutt’ again with Hank, Walt chose not to mention it.

“Hey, uh, Marie, would have brought it over herself but she thought it may be a little, you know…”

Hank shrugged his shoulders up and down which Walt took to mean stood for ‘awkward’.

“That’s fine,” Walt assured him, “I’ve always been a fan of Marie’s casserole so pass on my thanks.”

“Will do, buddy. I’ll just go grab it from the car. Kinda forgot it there with the whole seeing that mutt break into your house… or well, I guess in this case, not break in. Uh, anyway, I’ll go get it now.”

“Hey, Hank,” Walt began after Hank had returned and handed him the dish, “Would you mind not telling Marie about my, well… _houseguest_. I mean, I’m not implying that she’d say anything, but if she talked to Skyler-”

“Oh God, yeah, she would say something for sure” said Hank with a snort, apparently well aware how much of a gossip his wife was that even he felt he couldn’t defend her.

“Don’t worry, buddy, my lips are sealed,” Hank guaranteed, patting him good-naturedly on the shoulder.

“I appreciate it, Hank, thanks” replied Walt, feeling somewhat relieved.

Hank knowing about Jesse was bad enough but Walt knew that Marie would be an absolute nightmare to deal with if she discovered that he was allowing a mutt to stay with him. Not to mention there would also be the issue of Skyler finding out about it, no doubt practically within minutes of Marie learning herself.

“Hey, next time, we’re having Sky and the kids over, you should join.”

 “Sounds good,” Walt replied. Although really he had no idea how Skyler would feel about that.

“Hey, just don’t bring the mutt, okay?” Hank laughed as he climbed into his car, “Later, Walt.”

As he watched Hank drive away, Walt let out a sigh. Well, that had certainly been an interesting way to wake up. He was just glad that Jesse was alright. Or at least he very much hoped that was the case. Being forced to the ground at gunpoint couldn’t have been a pleasant experience after all. Although, Walt had a sneaking suspicion that the pup had faced much worst hardships in the past.

Returning to the warmth of the cabin, Walt found himself once again having to reassure himself that despite his upset, Jesse would definitely return. 

 

Jesse of course did come back, albeit some hours later, leaving Walt to surmise that he had walked the several miles to the small town over, to no doubt visit the general store that he had spoken so fondly of the past several days. Nevertheless, Walt still found himself relieved upon seeing him.

“That psycho prick gone?” Jesse asked as he tentatively entered the cabin, glancing around.

“He is,” Walt confirmed, getting up from the couch. After everything, he couldn’t blame Jesse for being wary.

“Good,” sighed Jesse, sounding relieved as he kicked off his shoes.

“Are you okay?” Walt asked.

Jesse sighed again. “I’m fine, yo,” he replied, although Walt wasn’t completely convinced.

“I’m sorry,” Walt found himself quickly saying, feeling the need to apologise for Hank’s actions.

Jesse stared at him, confused. “Why? It ain’t your fault or nothin’.”

“Still, I’m sorry you had to…”

“What, have a gun pointed at me and be forced to the ground?” Jesse supplied and Walt winced.

 “Hank can be a little overzealous,” Walt admitted, “He didn’t know that you’re staying here so I suppose it was only logical for him to assume that you were trying to break in.”

“Yeah, totally. When you have a key to the place, it totally constitutes breaking in,” Jesse retorted bitterly as he flopped down on the sofa, “And I’m sure him being a complete asshole as he held me down had nothing to do with me being a mutt either.”

An awkward silence befell them. Hank’s prejudicial dislike for mutts was something Walt couldn’t and wouldn’t try to justify. In regard to arresting Jesse however – albeit due to a misunderstanding – Hank was just doing his job. Nevertheless, there was no excuse for the language he had used and things he had said to him. Once again, both guilt and sympathy welled up within Walt. While he had never had an outright dislike for mutts like Hank, he hadn’t viewed them too kindly either.

He glanced over at Jesse and seeing what looked like a wince, was suddenly reminded of Jesse’s healing ribs and how he had been pinned roughly against the floor.

“Jesse, your ribs, are they okay?” Walt asked, slightly panicked, “Hank, he didn’t do any more damage, did he?”

“Nah, they’re fine,” Jesse reassured, placing a hand over them, “They’re a little sore but don’t hurt that much.”

Then with a small chuckle added, “Nothing compared to getting hit by some mad chemist’s car anyway.”

Walt smiled in return, relaxing somewhat.

Then surprising Walt, somewhat hesitantly, Jesse said, “Hey, sorry I like snapped at you earlier. I was just super pissed off, you know? Like I said, I know it wasn’t your fault or anything.  Hell, if it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be in some jail cell right now.”

“Well, I certainly wasn’t going to let Hank just take you away,” Walt told him truthfully, “Especially since this is your-”

Again, the word ‘home’ rose to the forefront of Walt’s mind.

“Well, since I’m allowing you to stay here and you didn’t do anything wrong.”

Jesse smiled, looking thankful.

“So, uh, get anything at Mike’s store?” Walt asked, once again wanting to change the subject from the unpleasant encounter before.

Jesse looked surprised. “How did you know I went there?”

“Just an educated guess.”

“Uh, yeah.” And from out the pockets of his hoodie Jesse pulled out two large bags of funyuns.

“Really? Again?” said Walt, unable to quite understand the boy’s love for them. Jesse had said he used to practically live on the things, so surely, he should be sick of eating them by now?

“Funyuns are the best, yo!” Jesse declared yet again.

Okay, apparently not.

Walt sighed. “Given the time, how about we eat some real food?”

Jesse looked slightly offended at the suggestion that funyuns weren’t real food, but he didn’t say anything; no doubt because he too wanted ‘real food’.

“How about some casserole? All I need to do is heat it up.”

“You made a casserole while I was out?” Jesse asked, surprised.

“Not exactly. Hank brought it over with him.”

Jesse looked immediately put off, as if anything to do with the man was instantly bad. “Uh, yeah, I’ll pass, thanks,” he replied sulkily.

 “It was actually his wife that made it. Marie makes a great casserole.”

Jesse stared at him dubiously. Maybe he should have lied and let Jesse think he had cooked it.

Nevertheless, he wasn’t going to just give up.

“Come on, you really should try some. I think you’ll really like it,” Walt urged.

 Jesse stared a few moments longer before letting out a relenting sigh. “Fine, I’ll have a little. Happy?”

Walt chuckled softly. “I’ll go heat it up.”

 

“Shit, this really _is_ good,” said Jesse as he happily dug into the casserole.

“I told you,” replied Walt with a satisfied smile.

“Bet your brother-in-law would have like a shitfit if he knew you were sharing his wife’s food with a mutt,” Jesse snorted with a slightly amused expression on his face.

Really Walt couldn’t refute this. However, he was mainly just glad to see that Jesse was enjoying the meal.

He had noticed that since Jesse had started staying with him, that the boy had put on a little weight. Not much however, and in Walt’s opinion he was still far too underweight. Nevertheless, despite the whole broken ribs, it made Walt somewhat thankful that staying here had had some positive effect on his health.

“So, uh, what did you like say to him?” Jesse asked hesitantly as he shuffled what was left on his plate with his fork, “You told him I was staying here so he had to want to know why you’ve let some mutt into your house, right?”

“Well, he was a bit curious about it.”

Jesse let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, understatement. Did you tell him I was your pet, just like he thought I was? I mean, that’d be the easiest way to explain me being here.”

“Of course, I didn’t!” Walt retorted.

Jesse looked momentarily taken aback before smiling deprecatingly. “Yeah, well, I guess, you don’t want him thinking your sad enough to get a mutt as pet.”

“Jesse, that isn’t the reason why I didn’t tell him. I was offended by…”

Walt trailed off. It was true that he had been offended by Hank thinking he had gotten Jesse as a pet but it made him even angrier that that’s all that Hank saw Jesse as; just some pathetic mutt.  

“I actually told Hank the truth,” Walt admitted, “Or well most of it.”

Jesse’s eyes widened looking slightly panicked. “You-You did?”

“I mean, I mentioned hitting you with my car but nothing about you blackmailing me and certainly nothing about working for the Salamanca family; in both our cases,” Walt assured him.

Jesse let out a relieved sigh.

“I told him that you ended up with a few broken ribs after the accident and feeling guilty about it I decided to let you to stay here until you recovered.”

Jesse frowned. “And you’re sure he bought it? Cause, you know, most people wouldn’t let a-”

“I managed to convince him,” Walt interrupted, having already had the same conversation with Hank, “He no doubt thought I was crazy, but in the end, he bought it.”

Walt decided not to mention the whole he had allowed Jesse to stay with him because he was lonely speal he had given Hank. It had been somewhat humiliating but it had at least stopped Hank from any further line of questioning, and so he supposed that in that regard it was worth it.

Jesse, meanwhile, still didn’t look quite convinced, but thankfully didn’t pry any further.

“I promise that Hank won’t be barging in here like that again.”

‘Mainly because you won’t be here anymore’, Walt acknowledged sadly, something he seemed unable to bring himself to say out loud.

Jesse nodded and returned to eating what was left on his plate.

“Jesse, those _things_ that Hank said in regard to you being a…well, you know. And letting you stay here as my …”

“Pet?” Jesse supplied and again Walt winced.

“You know that I don’t…That I’ve never…”

“I know,” said Jesse giving him a sad smile, “You’re like one the few people that doesn’t see me that way. I mean your brother-in-law’s a total prick, but it ain’t like I’ve never had stuff like that happen to me before, so I’m used to it.”

Walt frowned. It was sad to think that anyone had to get used to such a thing.

“So, being here, eating like this is pretty, well, awesome, you know? I mean I know I was the one who, well…”

“Blackmailed me?”

This time Jesse winced. “Well, yeah...”

It was strange how such a thing didn’t seem to bother Walt anymore; so much so that he often found himself forgetting completely that Jesse threatening to talk to the DEA was the reason he had ended up coming to stay with him in the first place. Walt held grudges but when it came to Jesse blackmailing him, the grudge had seemed to fade before it had even really gotten started. Clearly Jesse’s presence was a lot more important to him than he had initially thought.

“Anyway, I wanted to like say thanks for treating me like an actual person and stuff…” the boy thanked him, looking very uncomfortable “And for you know, not seeing me as a….”

Walt couldn’t help but smile. “You’re welcome, Jesse.”

The pup’s ears instantly perked up as Jesse stared at him, an expression of gratitude on his face.

Walt felt his heart swell, and again, unable to resist, he reached over the table and softly placed his hand on Jesse’s head, sure that he had heard the boy let out a contented sigh in response to his touch.

“Uh, I’ll grab the dishes,” Jesse declared quickly once Walt had taken his hand back. Despite clearly liking the sensation, Jesse always seemed embarrassed afterwards; something Walt found both amusing and endearing.

After dinner, with Walt feeling better, they returned the television to the living room, and a few hours later as they sat on the sofa watching it, Jesse ended up drifting off to sleep, his head slumping against Walt’s shoulder.

Walt couldn’t help but smile at the sight, Jesse looking ridiculously peaceful. He remembered thinking the exact same thing during those few short days when he had allowed Jesse into his bed to escape the cold at night.

Very gently Walt ran a finger lightly against the pup’s right ear. It twitched in response but Jesse thankfully remained asleep. Walt suppressed a chuckle. He increasingly found himself becoming more and more entranced by Jesse’s ears; fascinated by the way they instantly responded to the pup’s emotions, whether he was happy or sad, or even just to Walt’s touch itself. Furthermore, they were strangely pleasant to touch.

Glancing over at the clock, Walt noticed how late it was and decided he too should follow Jesse’s lead and try and get some sleep. And so very carefully, he shuffled over slightly and reaching out and supporting Jesse’s weight, he slowly stood up before gently guiding Jesse’s body down so he was now lying spread out on the sofa.

Jesse stirred a little in his sleep but again Walt thankfully managed not to wake the boy. Grabbing the quilt cover that was folded up in the corner out of the way, Walt placed it over the Jesse’s slumbering form.

He gazed down at him. A part of him wanted to tell Jesse that he liked having him around, that he enjoyed his company and having him here. But as was with the fact that the pup would soon be leaving, Walt couldn’t quite seem to bring himself to say the words out loud.

In the end, he decided it was best simply to enjoy the short time they had left together, and with that in mind, he gave Jesse one last glance before closing the door and heading to bed.

“Goodnight, pup.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you lots for reading!
> 
> heisenbutch did a lovely piece of artwork based on the fic which you can find [here](https://korycinskat.tumblr.com/post/164909331099/heisenbutch-for-yanyangire-small-fanart-from) :)
> 
> Also, feel free to follow my mess of a [tumblr.](https://yanyangire.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!


	10. Chapter 10

Wanting to enjoy what would no doubt be his last few days in somewhere he could actually consider a home, Jesse tried to ignore the impending fact that he would soon been leaving the place. While the cabin was certainly nothing to write home about, he had grown deeply fond of it, it having an old rustic sort of charm. Although a part of him was sure that his not wanting to leave probably had more to do with the company than the actual place itself.

He was positive that if someone had told him a month ago that the person he would feel most attached to in this world would be some grumpy fifty-year-old dude, he would have looked at them as if they were completely insane. Actually, if someone had told him he would become attached to _anyone_ , he probably wouldn’t have believed them either, what with it having previously been so long since he had experienced any sort of human decency or kindness.

‘You’re a mutt, what do you expect?’ he would have said himself bitterly, resigned to his status of someone to be avoided and looked down upon.

And yet, now, after years of mostly isolation, he had finally found someone that didn’t seem to care what he was, who wasn’t disgusted by his unnatural ears and a tail that had no right existing given that by all accounts he should have been born a ‘normal’ human being considering his parents.

He supposed it would be impossible not to become attached to someone like that.

 Much to Jesse’s relief, Walt had finally gotten over the flu.  Nevertheless, the older man still found himself somewhat tired, which didn’t surprise Jesse in the slightest given that he wasn’t long in remission from lung cancer. As such, Jesse insisted Walt to take it easy.

“I’ve been taking it easy for a week now,” Walt had huffed.

Jesse had laughed before suggesting that they go for a short walk around the woodland area surrounding the cabin, meaning Walt could get a bit of fresh air as well as some exercise.

“You know, I’ve been here for almost five months now and I’ve never really…well, just gone out for a walk,” said Walt, clad in a heavy coat with a scarf around his neck and woollen hat shielding his bare head from the cold as they walked through the tall trees.

“Really?” Jesse asked, surprised, “I think it’s awesome up here.”

“Well, I was a rather busy with my job,” Walt defended.

“Yeah, I guess cooking crystal as pure as yours wasn’t easy,” Jesse chuckled, stretching out his arms. He was walking slower than he usually did, matching Walt’s pace, not wanting to tire the man out too much.

“Truth is, I used to hate it up here. I found it far too quiet. I felt isolated, but worst of all, I was separated from my family.”

Jesse didn’t say anything, feeling bad for him. It was difficult going from living with people to finding yourself unwillingly thrust into the world on your own. If he hadn’t been so preoccupied with struggling to find places to sleep as well as enough food to stay alive, Jesse was pretty sure the loneliness he felt after his aunt’s death would have consumed him. Walt, he thought, had probably distracted himself from his own loneliness by engrossing himself in his job as a meth cook for the Salamanca family.

Jesse once believed he had gotten over his own feelings of loneliness long ago. That or he had simply grown so accustomed to it that he didn’t really notice it. But now he couldn’t help but wonder if he had used his job as a runner to distract himself as well. After all, when he ran, his mind emptied, focusing only on the sensation of running.

“I don’t feel that way so much anymore. Actually, I think I’ve come to like it here,” Walt admitted from next to him.

For a moment, Jesse was sure he was about to say something more, but he never did. And so, deciding to fill the silence, a small smile on his face, Jesse simply said, “I’m glad.”

Not long after, they turned around and headed back to the cabin. Walt made himself a coffee and Jesse, some hot chocolate, remembering he had gotten some in in case his son ever visited.

Jesse drank the beverage happily, unable to remember when he had last had some. He felt his tail flicker behind him as it seemed to be doing more and more these days; almost as if it had been brought back to life by some mystical force.

“Good?” Walt asked, his eyes focused on Jesse’s tail.

“Uh, yeah, thanks, Jesse replied somewhat sheepishly. While he still got embarrassed about his tail, he didn’t feel quite as self-conscious about it whenever it started to move anymore. No doubt, mainly because Walt had shown that he didn’t have a problem with it. In fact, Jesse always thought the guy looked strangely pleased whenever it started to wag. It was weird, but Jesse would take it a million times over the usual shocked or disgusted expressions he received whenever people took notice of it.

Walt smiled at him, echoing his words from earlier. “I’m glad.”

Jesse felt strangely warm inside, and he was positive that it wasn’t the hot chocolate.

 

Realising that there wasn’t much in in the way of food, Jesse offered to go out and get groceries.

“I’m fine to go out. Driving there will take a lot less time,” Walt told him.

 “It’s cool, yo. I like the exercise,” replied Jesse, “Plus you’re visiting your family later, right? Shouldn’t you like rest to keep up your strength or whatever for seeing them?”

Walt looked like he wanted to protest, but with a sigh he relented.

“Fine,” he said before teasingly adding, “You just want an excuse to go see that little girl and her Grandfather, don’t you?”

Jesse’s cheeks reddened slightly. He couldn’t really refute it given that it was more or less true. Like Walt, they were nice to him regardless of what he was. And after years of being surrounded by a bunch of people who would have liked nothing more than to beat the shit out of him, Jesse decided to indulge in any sort of kindness he could get.

After all, Mike didn’t seem to mind him visiting the store despite being a mutt, and Kaylee always looked really happy to see him even though they had only recently met. As such, it was nice to feel welcomed somewhere without having to hide what he was.

Walt wrote out and handed Jesse a short list along with some money. Jesse was pretty sure he could remember everything, but Walt told him better safe than sorry and so rolling his eyes he shoved the list and money into the pocket of his hoodie.

With a quick glance at the clock, Jesse bid farewell to Walt and quickly headed out, estimating by the time he got to town, Kaylee would have finished school and that Mike should have returned after closing the store for an hour or so to go pick her up. 

 

“Jesse!” the girl cried the moment he walked through the store door, running out from underneath the counter and giving him a hug.

Mike gave him a small nod of acknowledgement as he stood next to one of the shelves, stacking some cans.

“Hey, kiddo, how are you?”  Jesse greeted happily as Kaylee wrapped her arms around his waist, “You manning the cash register?”

“Uh-huh! I’m watching it while Pop-Pop stocks the shelves.”

Excitedly, Kaylee then proceeded to tell him what she had learnt at school that day. However, while he enjoyed listening to her enthusiastic explanations, Jesse suddenly found his eyes being drawn to the sign on the door, ‘Help Wanted. Apply within’, written on it.

“Jesse, are you okay?” the girl asked curiously, seemingly noticing his wavering attention.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Of course,” Jesse replied quickly as if being caught doing he shouldn’t have.

Then seeing that Mike was out earshot, quietly he asked, “So is your Pop-Pop looking to hire someone to work here at the store?”

“Yep. The lady that worked here before moved away a few weeks ago to the city with her family so Pop-Pop needs to hire someone new in her place,” Kaylee confirmed, “I try to help out but I still have to go to school and have homework as well so I don’t think just me being here is enough.”

Jesse gently ruffled her hair. “Well, I know for sure that your Pop-Pop thinks you’re a great help.”

The girl giggled, beaming up at him.

“Hey, Jesse, where do you work?”

“Uh, well, I don’t actually have a job at the moment…” he admitted somewhat awkwardly, “But I’m looking, you know?”

All of a sudden, Kaylee’s eyes widened and her mouth opened.

“Hey, are you o-”

“Jesse, I just had a great idea! You should work here!” Kaylee declared loudly, taking Jesse by surprise.

“W-What?”

“You’re looking for a job and Pop-Pop is hiring, so it’d be perfect!” she cried, stretching her arms out widely.

“Uh, yeah, I don’t think that would-”

But before he could finish, Kaylee was already running over to her Grandfather, proceeding to tell him her idea great idea with boundless excitement.

Jesse saw her grandfather glance over at him and Jesse felt himself wince. While he couldn’t quite hear what Mike was saying, he saw Kaylee nodding before turning to look at him and heading into the stockroom, out of sight.

Jesse was immediately prepared for the worst, believing that Mike had most likely sent Kaylee away so he didn’t have to outright reject him in front of her, knowing how fond his Granddaughter had grown of him. Jesse, meanwhile, planned on quickly telling him that he had merely been curious about the sign and that Kaylee had simply gotten overexcited and came up with the idea that he work here on her own, and that he had never actually had any intention of applying for the job. He also wanted to make it clear to Mike so that the man didn’t think that he had coerced an eight-year old girl to ask on his behalf given how pathetic that would make him seem.

Glancing over at Jesse, Mike slowly approached him and Jesse couldn’t help but tense slightly.

“So, Kaylee was telling me you’re looking for a job and that you should work here,” said Mike, matter-of-factly

Jesse opened his mouth to explain the misunderstanding, instead however, he found himself nodding.

Mentally, Jesse kicked himself. So much for maintaining his dignity…

But more importantly, he already knew that he didn’t have a chance in hell of actually getting the job. Why put himself through the awkwardness and embarrassment?

Mike was a little rough around the edges but he really did seem like a good guy, and while he didn’t appear to have any issues with Jesse being what he was or even him visiting his store and talking with his Granddaughter, it was completely different to have a mutt working for you. After all, he had only gotten his job as a runner for the Salamanca family because his above average speed was of use them for moving their product both quickly and covertly. And Jesse highly doubted that the tasks of manning a cash register or stocking groceries relied very much on the ability to be able to run fast.

“You have any experience working in retail?” Mike asked, surprising Jesse who had expected an outright rejection.

Maybe the guy was just being polite?

Regardless, Jesse shook his head.

Mike, let out a hmm sound, before saying, “Look, kid, I’m not trying to imply anything or come across as discriminatory for you being what you are and all, it’s just that you’d be surprised at the amount of kids out there that don’t have access to what could even be considered a passing education… But I am assuming that given you could read that sign and you bought a newspaper the other day, that you’re at least literate?”

“Totally, yo!” Jesse quickly replied, finally finding his voice. The newspaper had technically been for Walt but Mike didn’t need to know that.

“I actually went to school. Got, like, the whole education thing and everything,” he added, feeling the need to highlight the fact given that most mutts didn’t actually get the chance to attend; or at least what would be considered regular schools for ‘normal folks’.

Jesse had been a unique case and in turn had been allowed to attend school with other kids his age given that his parents were both normal humans and by all logic, should have been born one too. Not that getting accepted there had been easy of course, it having taken a lot of convincing and pleading to the schoolboard on his parents’ part to get him in.

Jesse did decide however not to mention that he had dropped out in middle school. But he could read fine, and that was better than a lot people, Mike’s words about some kids not having access to decent education completely correct. His friend Pete, for example, was illiterate. Although Jesse had no idea if he had actually attended school or not.

For a short period after he had dropped, Jesse was home schooled by his mom. But upon realising that her eldest son was seemingly getting nowhere with his studies and given that she also had his baby brother to take care of, his mom eventually gave up on him, Jesse being sent off to live with his aunt not long after.

Mike nodded, and for a brief moment Jesse thought that maybe, just maybe, he really did have a chance of getting a job working at in the store.

“So, what line of work were you in before, kid?”

And just like that Jesse felt his hopes being dashed. After all, there was no way he could actually tell Mike the truth, as let alone not getting hired, Mike might choose to ban him from the store completely, not wanting his granddaughter associating with someone who had previously made his living sneaking into places and evading law enforcement to hand over thousands of dollars’ worth of meth to drug dealers who would then sell it onto junkies desperate for a fix.

Yep, that was definitely someone you wanted a kid in your charge talking to.

Mike was looking at him, clearly expecting some answer from him and Jesse started to panic. Again, he thought Mike seemed like a nice guy but he was also intimidating as hell, and his brain yelled at him to actually say something.

“Well, I... I was... a delivery guy. I uh, delivered, stuff for people,” Jesse told him, shuffling uncomfortably.

Technically it wasn’t a lie, but again he doubted Mike would think very highly of the actual stuff he delivered, or the people he delivered to for that matter.

“Yes, I am familiar with the concept of what a delivery guy is,” Mike replied dryly. “So what kind of _stuff_ did you deliver? Food?

 “Kinda,” Jesse answered.

“Hmm.” Mike was staring at him inquisitively and Jesse felt himself start to sweat nervously.

He couldn’t help but feel as if he were being interrogated. Although, when he thought about it, that’s what job interviews really amounted to in the end; an interrogation of who you are and your skills.

Like, are you really good enough for this job?

Yeah?

Well, then, you better damn well prove it.

“It was just like a small independent company. I delivered stuff to the city for people who needed it, you know?”

Mike had what Jesse considered to be a strong poker face. Nevertheless, he suspected that by this point the storeowner had deduced that given his reluctance to say its name and what he delivered, that ‘small independent company’ referred to some sort of illegal operation and that whatever he transported was illicit in nature.

The older man sighed. “Look, kid…”

“Please, I really need this job, yo!” Jesse found himself crying out suddenly, “Seriously, I need cash to pay off my medical bills. And my housemate, the one who had the flu? He let me stay with him when my ribs were all messed up and I had no other place to go. I really need to pay him back. I, well, I owe him that much…”

An image of the man flickered in his mind and Jesse found himself simultaneously filled with a feeling of warmth as well as guilt.

“You don’t even gotta pay me much. I’ll even work for less than that chick who moved to the city!” Jesse declared in desperation.

Mike, again with ever the perfect poker face, didn’t seem taken aback at Jesse’s outburst.

“You say that now but the pay already ain’t that great, kid. Business isn’t exactly booming in this town,” Mike said matter of factly, “I have my regular customers and some people who drive through occasionally, and that keeps me a float. But if you’re be expecting some cushy pay rise after a few months of working here you’ll be solely disappointed.”

Jesse wasn’t sure if Mike was trying to deter him rather than coming straight out and refusing to hire him but Jesse was determined to convince Mike to take him on and so continued to press.

“That doesn’t matter to me, I swear!” he admitted truthfully, “I…I just, I wanna do something that’s…”

Jesse wasn’t sure what the word he was looking for was.

‘Normal’ maybe? Or perhaps, something that was actually legal.

He hadn’t exactly been making mad cheddar in his previous job so the pay honestly didn’t matter much to him as long as he could survive on it. Hell, even if it did pay less than his previous job, he still wanted it. Especially after having given up any hope of getting a respectable and legal job years ago. To finally have a chance to work in a place like this, somewhere he wouldn’t be treated like shit and with people who were actually nice to him, well, that would be like a dream come to life.

But most importantly, Jesse needed a job to pay back Walt. And Saul wouldn’t exactly let him slide on the money he owed him either. If he couldn’t cough up the cash, Jesse would be forced to break into hospitals or medical supply stores and steal drugs for Saul to pay back his debt.

Lately places – hospitals especially – had upped their security which made getting in both awkward as well as dangerous considering both cops and security guards tended to embrace the mantra of shoot first, ask questions later. Plus, Jesse had always felt a bit skeevy about breaking into them, even if he himself was reliant on the stolen drugs and medical equipment whenever he got injured himself.

“Please.”

Jesse hated begging and tried to avoid doing so at all costs, but right now, he didn’t care how he was coming across. He really needed this.

“Just give me a chance,” he pleaded.

Mike’s eyes were baring into him and Jesse felt his breath hitch in his throat.

The storeowner let out a sigh and for a moment Jesse was sure that that was it; that his momentary hope of getting a normal job was over.

Feeling dejected, Jesse felt his ears flatten against his head underneath his beanie.

“You seem real serious about this, kid,” said Mike, “Don’t think I’ve ever met someone so desperate to work in some low paid job ringing up groceries.”

“I just really need-”

“You really need this. Yeah, you said that already.”

Mike remained silent for several moments, almost as if he were thinking something over.

“I don’t know exactly what your last job entailed. From what you said I can only guess. And, I got to say my hunches are usually correct.”

Jesse winced. He had been right. Even if he hadn’t said the nature of his work, Mike had at least been able to deduce that it was something illegal.

“Still, I do believe in giving people second chances. Plus, Kaylee, if you hadn’t noticed already, seems to be rather fond of you. And, well, maybe I’m an old sap but I like seeing my Granddaughter happy.”

Then with a hint of smile, Mike added, “More than anything.”

Jesse’s ears instantly perked up.

“Are you saying…Does that mean I have the job?” he asked, hopefully.

“As long as you can promise me that any connections you have to your previous profession as a ‘delivery guy’ is over, and that this will be your one and _only_ job and that no _unsightly_ characters will come here looking for you for whatever reasons,” Mike stated coolly, “And kid, I mean that. If I _ever_ thought you being here placed Kaylee in any kind of danger, I would-”

“They won’t! I mean, no one will come looking for me. I can promise that,” Jesse said resolutely, hoping that Mike would take his word for it and that he wouldn’t have to explain that all the people he worked for previously where now in jail, in case it made Mike think twice about hiring him.

 “Everything I did before… it’s all in the past. I…I wanna leave it behind me. Like, for good, you know? I don’t wanna go back to…”

Jesse trailed off, not sure what else to say without confessing to his criminal past. Although, really it seemed clear that Mike knew already.

Mike remained silent, giving him a considering look, before saying, “Well, alright then. I suppose you’re my newest employee.”

Jesse’s instantly eyes lit up. “For real?!”

“I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it.”

“Hell yeah!” cried Jesse, clapping his hands together, “Thank you so much! Seriously, yo! Like you won’t regret, I swear!”

“To be clear, you working here is on a _trial_ basis only,” warned Mike, “I’ll have to see how actually you do in the job first, so don’t take this as a sure thing. Cause if you ain’t up to scratch you’ll be-”

“Is Jesse going to be working here!?” a much younger and excited sounding voice suddenly chimed from across the store.

And glancing over Jesse saw Kaylee quickly making her way over to them.

“I thought I told you to stay in the stockroom, sweetie” said Mike, although he seemed to be more amused than annoyed.

“I heard Jesse yell,” she replied before eagerly asking, “Did you give Jesse the job, Pop-Pop? Did you? Did you? Please say you did!”

“More-or-less, sweetie” Mike chuckled, smiling down at her as she stood between them.

The girl broke into a huge grin. “Yay! Jesse’s gonna be working here!” she exclaimed, happily, grabbing Jesse’s hand.

Jesse couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hey, Jesse, that means I get to see you every day!”

“Well, not every day,” Mike corrected, “But it does mean you’ll get to see him a lot more. However, Jesse is going to be here to work, not play, okay? So, you have to promise not to distract him too much.”

“I promise, Pop-Pop!” she said in a tone which Jesse assumed was supposed to be resolute but instead sounded adorable.

“That’s my girl,” said Mike, softly patting her head.

She giggled, and as Jesse watched them, for one strange moment he was reminded of Walt. As of late, the older man had taken to ruffling his hair along with his ears. The first time he had done it had been after Jesse had made soup for him. And while Jesse had been both surprised and a little embarrassed at the action, at the time he believed it to be a one-off thing; something that Walt had simply done on impulse in his flu-ridden state.

Yet the next day, he did it again. And although it hadn’t been that long, Walt continued, reaching out to him, running his fingers through his hair and stroking his ears. It felt different from when Kaylee did it. Her hands were small and her touch gentle and somewhat tentative. Walt’s hands meanwhile were much larger, and while it certainly didn’t hurt when he touched him, Jesse could feel how strong his fingers were as they combed through his hair and rubbed at his ears; as his palm pressed down on his head.

His cheeks reddened at the thought and Jesse wondered if Walt would touch him like that again when he told him the good news.

He really hoped so.

“Jesse, your tail is wagging!” Kaylee announced, clearly delighted at the sight.

Jesse tilted his head around to look at it. Embarrassed, his cheeks reddened further. He had been so caught up in his excitement about getting the job and then thinking about Walt that he hadn’t even felt the thing move.

“It’s so cool!” Kaylee declared, her eyes wide with amazement as she rushed behind Jesse to get a better look.

“Yeah, it does that sometimes,” Jesse admitted, somewhat self-consciously as he scratched the back of head through his beanie.

He still wasn’t quite used to having it on show let alone people actually seeing it move. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but find it sort of cute how happy it seemed to be making Kaylee.

The girl giggled. “You must be real happy! Snuffles tail wags whenever he’s happy too.”

Jesse chuckled despite his embarrassment. It was true after all. He did feel pretty damn happy right now.

“Yeah, I uh, guess I am.”

“Jesse, are you ears moving too under your hat? Can I see them?”

“Sweetheart, do you mind giving Pop-Pop and Jesse another few minutes?” Mike interjected, “I know you’re excited, but Jesse and I have a few more things to discuss if Jesse is going to start working here.”

The girl looked slightly disappointed but nodded. “Okay, Pop-Pop, I’ll go finish my homework.”

“Good girl.”

Her smile returning, Kaylee skipped back into the stockroom and out of sight leaving Jesse alone with Mike again. However, this time Jesse was filled with hope instead of dread, and he listened intently as Mike proceeded to go over a few of the details such as the hours he would work during his trial period as well as how much he would be getting paid and how often. As Mike had said, the pay wasn’t much, but it was also more than what he had earned working for the Salamanca’s. Plus, it came with the added bonus of more money for less hours.

Still, even if it had paid less, doing a job where he wasn’t putting himself in constant risk of getting caught by the cops and thrown in a jail cell was definitely worth it.

“Starting on Tuesday work you?” Mike asked.

“Yeah! I mean I can start before then if you want? Hell, tomorrow even!” said Jesse eagerly, wanting to begin as soon as possible, the only reason he hadn’t suggested starting that very day being that he really wanted to tell Walt.

“Actually, the store’s going to be closed for the next few days.”

“How come?” Jesse asked, curiously.

“Taking Kaylee away for the weekend. Nothing special, just camping and teaching her how to fish,” Mike replied.

While most of the snow had cleared, Jesse thought it still seemed rather chilly to go camping. Nevertheless, he didn’t say anything. Plus, he got the impression that Mike knew very well how to take care of things, as well as being super prepared; like he could probably make a massive roaring campfire in a matter of minutes. As such, he doubted that Kaylee would want for anything during the trip.

In a way, he was sort of envious. Despite loving being outside, especially when he was a kid, his own father had never taken him camping despite Jesse’s numerous attempts to get him to. The closest he had ever gotten to camping had been one night in his parent’s backyard when he was seven and his parents had given in and bought him a small tent for his birthday. But in the end, it had been no fun at all. Although that was most likely due to the fact that he had been all by himself.

His parents wouldn’t allow him to build a campfire either – which in Jesse’s opinion was a big part of the whole camping experience – saying it would ruin the grass. Not that it would have made much difference he supposed. There was no one else there to swap scary stories with, and even roasting marshmallows over the campfire had felt pretty lame by himself.

His mom had at least come out with some snacks as well as to check up on him. His dad, meanwhile, despite being home, hadn’t come out even once.

Feeling utterly dejected, later that night Jesse had snuck back into the house and climbed into his bed, where his mom found him the next morning.

He never used the tent again, and subsequently stopped mentioning the idea of going camping to his dad.  His dad of course, never noticed. Although he would go camping eventually, just not with Jesse.

When his younger brother was old enough, he joined the boy scouts – by this point Jesse had already been kicked out and was living with his aunt – and his dad would sometimes volunteer to help out at events and retreats. Apparently unlike when Jesse was growing up he was no longer all that busy.

Jesse could remember bursting out laughing when his mom told him during her always strained and seemingly begrudging weekly phone call to him. She had gotten angry, not seeing what was so funny.

When Jesse pointed out that Dad had never done anything like that for him, he had gotten the reply of, “Well, your father was busy with work. Plus, if you don’t remember, we had a lot on our plate back then…”

Jesse had stopped laughing after that. He knew that by ‘a lot on our plate’, she was referring to his ‘condition’ as his parents called it; ‘mutt’ being a no-no word in their home. After all, having a freak-of-nature for a son wasn’t easy. Still, with Jake being blessedly normal and Jesse out of the picture living with his aunt, they finally had the chance to enjoy at least one of their kid’s childhood without constant worry and stress.

Jesse couldn’t even bring himself to get that angry at her. In a way, he understood. Nevertheless, he had hung up on her and went into his room to smoke some weed. He remembered pointedly ignoring his mom’s next several calls, it only being when Ginny had actually yelled at him – something she rarely ever did – to speak with her, that he called back.

Of course, the whole camping thing was not brought up, and his dad when Jesse asked about him, was simply ‘fine’.

 “Oh, one last thing. When you’re on the clock, I’d prefer if you didn’t wear the hat,” said Mike, gesturing to the beanie on his head.

“Uh, well, do you have something else you want me to wear on my head instead?” Jesse asked, confused. He had never seen Mike wearing a hat, and other than the green apron, there didn’t seem to be an official uniform for the store or anything.

“No,” Mike replied, simply.

“Yeah, but then people will see my ears.”

“I know, but a hat like that isn’t exactly professional. And while you may be thinking, ‘well, this is just some little store, who gives a crap?’, I take this place very seriously. Think of it as a condition of you working here.”

Instinctively, Jesse’s hand went to his head. “Hey, I get like wearing an apron and all but…”

Mike stared back at him, expression unchanging. “But?”

Jesse frowned. Did Mike really not get it? Didn’t he see the multitude of problems that would no doubt occur if people knew that he had a mutt working for him?

Apparently not if Jesse had to be the one to spell it out for him.

“Yo, if I’m not wearing this, people will be able to tell I’m a mutt, yo,” stated Jesse, shuffling uncomfortably.

 “With those ears and tail of yours, I imagine they will.”

“Uh, won’t that, you know, be a bad thing? Like, seriously, do you really want your customers knowing you have a mutt working in your store?” Jesse asked incredulously.

“It’s what you are, aren’t you? I don’t see why there’s any need to hide it.”

Now Jesse was completely baffled.

“Yeah, but ain’t you worried the people who come in here will like freak out or get offended or shit when they see me?”

“I’d like to think that in this day and age it wouldn’t be such a big deal for most people,” Mike replied casually.

Jesse’s frown deepened. Surely, a guy like Mike couldn’t be that naïve?

“People are…”

Jesse sighed.

“Look, I kind of thought working here, I would keep my ears and tail hidden. It’d make things a whole lot easier, you know?” said Jesse, hoping Mike would relent.

 Mike, however, had clearly already made up his mind. “Like I said, it’s a condition of working here. But if it makes you that uncomfortable, you don’t have to take the job. I can find someone else.”

Jesse couldn’t help but glower slightly.

“Yo, this ain’t about me! It’s about your customers! Seriously, people will go shop somewhere else when they see you’ve got some mutt working here. You’ll lose business!” cried Jesse, both frustrated and confused why Mike didn’t understand this, or if he did understand, why it didn’t seem to bother him at all.

“I want this job. I really do. But…”

Like Walt, Mike and Kaylee had been far kinder to him than anyone else since his aunt had died, and he sure as hell didn’t want to repay that kindness by losing business for them.

He let out a sigh of resignation. Of course, a job like this was too good to be true.

 “Look, I don’t wanna be the reason you go outta business, so maybe you shouldn’t hire me after all…”

“That’ll be tough. Especially since Kaylee knows that I already have hired you.”

Jesse winced, the thought of Kaylee’s disappointed face making him feel guilty.

Feeling utterly depressed, Jesse stared down at his feet, not sure what else to say.

“Kid.”

After several moments, he glanced back up, meeting Mike’s eyes.

“You working here ain’t exactly gonna bankrupt my business.  The town’s small but I have a lot of loyal customers, and again I’d like to think they wouldn’t stop coming just because you’re working here. And if they are? Well, screw them,” Mike told him earnestly

Jesse’s eyes widened in shock. “Yeah, but-”

“Hey, you let me worry about how the store is doing. You just do your job and there’ll be no problems, okay?”

Jesse’s breath caught in his throat, and not quite able to summon his voice, he nodded instead.

“Good, now that’s settled then. You start on Monday, kid,” said Mike, as if both his words and hiring a mutt was no big deal.

“Now, why don’t you pick up what you were planning on buying and I’ll go get Kaylee. She won’t forgive me if I let you go without her getting a chance to say goodbye.”

“Uh, sure,” answered Jesse, still in a state of stupor.

As Mike disappeared into the storeroom, Jesse glanced around the store.

It felt surreal. In just a few short days he would be working here.

Delving into his pocket for the shopping list, Jesse ended up taking out a small crumbled piece of paper. It was his list of what he owed Walt, or at least what he felt he owed. Really it was more of an estimation than anything else.

Glancing down at the list, he smiled. It may not be right away, but finally he could start to pay him back.

Truly, Jesse didn’t think he had ever been so happy to be able to pay back a debt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for there being such a long period between chapters. Dealing with some health issues and wanted to try catch up on one of my other BraBa fics as well. Hopefully however, updates should be a bit more frequent. :)
> 
> Thank you very much for reading, and as always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!


	11. Chapter 11

Walt was sat on the sofa, idly flicking through channels on the TV, idling his time before he needed to head out to go have dinner with his family when all of sudden Jesse came bounding through the door, effectively startling him.

“Jesse, is everything okay?” Walt asked worriedly, quickly getting to his feet. The boy was panting heavily, leaving Walt to wonder if he had happened to run the entire way back to the cabin.

“Guess what!” Jesse cried despite clearly struggling for breath as he placed the grocery bag he had been carrying down on the table.

Walt wasn’t a big fan of guessing games. Not that it seemed to matter in this case as Jesse apparently didn’t know how they worked either, immediately blurting out, “I got a job!”

“A job?” Walt echoed in surprise.

He recalled Jesse having offered to break into some hospitals for that quack doctor Saul Goodman – something he had obviously done for the man before – in exchange for paying off the rest of his medical bills. Was that what Jesse was referring to? And if so, why would he be so happy about it?

Or perhaps he had found work as a runner once again. Hank, when he had shown up the other day had mentioned that new gangs where cropping up all around the city, hoping to take over the drug trade now that the Salamanca family where out of the picture. Could it be that Jesse was going to be working for one of them?

“I thought you were going to the store.”

“I did! That’s where I got the job, yo!” Jesse declared excitedly, a huge smile on his face.

“There was this ‘help wanted’ sign so I asked about it, or well, really Kaylee did… But anyway, I talked to Mike and he hired me!”

Walt felt relieved. From what Jesse had told him, being a runner sounded like an awful job, and as for Saul, for the brief time he was in his presence Walt found he didn’t really like or trust him. While Jesse had been the one to offer to break in and steal medical supplies to pay off his own medical bills, Walt had sensed a clear reluctance in the younger man.

“I mean I know it’s just selling and stacking groceries and shit but it’s…it’s an actual job, you know?” continued Jesse, sounding as if he still couldn’t quite believe it himself, “Like an actual legitimate job.”

While Walt had been initially bemused by Jesse’s overt excitement about working in some small town general store, Jesse’s reaction suddenly made complete sense to him.

Jesse was a mutt, and mutts certainly didn’t have jobs like that, no matter how mundane or mediocre they were considered by the rest of society. After all, Walt for certain had never walked into a store and been served by one.

Mutts were generally considered unemployable, and the few jobs that they were offered were almost always illegal in nature and hidden from view. Not to mention dangerous; Jesse’s previous job as a runner being case in point. It was no wonder that Jesse was so happy.

Walt smiled.

“Jesse, that’s great news. I’m happy for you,” Walt congratulated, really meaning it, and for a moment he thought he saw the boy blush slightly.

“It’s not a, uh sure thing or anything. I say I got the job, but it’s more of a trial period, you know? Like, seriously, I may end up sucking at it and totally screw up, then Mike will have to-”

Jesse’s rambling instantly ceased as Walt placed his hand on his head.

“You’ll do fine, pup. Don’t worry about it,” Walt gently reassured him, once again meaning his words.

“Th-Thanks,” Jesse stuttered, his head hanging downwards as Walt patted it.

Walt couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed as Jesse had yet to remove his beanie meaning he didn’t get to feel or stroke his hair or ears.

Nevertheless, from the corner of his eye, Walt saw Jesse’s tail flicker to life; something which was always nice to see.

“It means that I can totally pay you back now too,” Jesse told him eagerly, glancing back up, “Or well, I’ll be able to soon. I have to like actually get paid first but as soon as I do I’ll give you what I owe you.”

“Thanks,” Walt said fondly as he remembered finding Jesse’s list from several days back estimating what he owed him, “However, it might be better if you pay that doctor back first. I get the feeling that he won’t be quite as patient as me when it comes to waiting for money.”

Jesse snorted. “Saul knows that I’m totally good for it. Plus, you’re the one that’s let me live… or well, put up with me or whatever for over a month. Saul can wait.”

‘Putting up with,’ thought Walt. Perhaps it had been like that in the very beginning, but things felt completely different now, Walt having grown accustomed to and even enjoying the boy’s presence.

A part of Walt felt he should tell the Jesse this, but unable to bring himself to say something quite so sentimental, instead he asked, “When do you start?”

“Tuesday. Mike’s taking Kaylee camping for the weekend so the store’s gonna be closed for the next few days.”

“Only a few days, huh?” Walt mused.

“Yeah…”

A few moments passed, and Walt felt Jesse shuffle awkwardly beneath his hand which still rested upon the younger man’s head.

“Uh, Walt…” Jesse began, sounding somewhat tentative.

“Hmm?”

“I…I can try and be gone for then.”

Walt, removed his hand.

“Gone?” Walt asked, confused.

“Yeah. It…It’s been almost six weeks since I’ve been staying here, right? Saul, he said it would take like four to six weeks for my ribs to heal. And they’re, well, all better now I think. I mean, they don’t hurt anymore at least. And I, uh, promised you I would leave as soon as they healed up, so I guess I should go, huh?”

“Where…Where will you go?” Walt asked hesitantly, his breath catching in his throat.

He had tried ignoring it but now it was finally happening. Jesse would be leaving and once again Walt would be stuck in this dingy little cabin with only himself for company.

Jesse’s head hung low as if he were deliberately trying to avoid Walt’s eyes. And scratching the back of his neck, he said, “I dunno. I can’t go back to the warehouse. The cops are probably still watching the place in case anybody tries to go back for something.”

Walt was unsure about this given how much Hank seemed to have his hands full the other day what with all those rival gangs trying to take over the drug trade, but it was definitely better to be safe than sorry and so he decided not to say anything.

“I guess the city,” Jesse continued, “That’s like, really the only place I can go, you know? I just need to find some abandoned factory or old house and crash there.”

Walt frowned. That didn’t sound pleasant at all. Furthermore, such places would no doubt only reside in the most desolate and dangerous parts of the city. And while he had only known Jesse for a short time, the thought of him having to stay some place like that made Walt uncomfortable.

“Are you really sure that’s wise?” Walt questioned.

Jesse shrugged. “It ain’t like I have much of a choice, yo. Besides, I used to squat places before I started working for the Salamanca family.”

And then as if trying to put a more positive spin on the situation, with a small laugh added, “Plus, it’s like Spring now so it means I won’t have to freeze my ass off in the cold.”

Walt supposed that was something. Nevertheless, he still felt slightly uneasy.

“Besides, after I pay you and Saul back, I can try save some money and see if I can rent an apartment or whatever. I mean it doesn’t pay much but it’s better than my last job anyway.”

“Will renting even be possible, what with you being a…” Walt trailed off. The word ‘mutt’ always felt distasteful on his tongue, especially when addressing Jesse directly.

“A lot of guys renting places out won’t give a shit as long as you can pay. Plus, I can just hide my ears and tail. As long as I fork over the cash every month, it’s not like they need to know what I am.”

This was true, thought Walt. And he highly doubted that the landlords of the kind of apartments Jesse would be looking to rent had rigorous background checks in place for their tenants.

 They stood in awkward silence for what felt like several minutes, neither seeming to know what to say.

“Uh, thanks again for letting me stay here,” said Jesse eventually, “Even if I did like blackmail you. And like I said, once I get my first wage, I’ll-”

“Jesse,” Walt interrupted, hit by a sudden realisation.

“Yeah?”

“How long would it take you to get to the city on foot from here?”

Jesse shrugged. “I dunno. Like, three, four hours if I ran, I guess.”

Walt frowned. “And how long does it take you to get to the store from here?”

“About two hours, wh-”

Jesse stopped, his own realisation occurring, and Walt watched as the boy’s face started to crumble

“Shit!” cried Jesse, placing his hands-on top of his head, “I was so psyched and wanted the job so much that I completely forgot about leaving here and moving to the city!”

Walt wasn’t sure if you could refer to it as ‘moving’ if you technically had no place to live, but now certainly wasn’t the time to point out such a thing, especially given how distraught Jesse clearly was.

“I can’t believe how fucking stupid I am,” Jesse spat in frustration, collapsing onto the sofa.

“You’re not stupid,” Walt argued, taking a seat beside him, “You just got a little ahead of yourself is all.”

Jesse snorted, removing his beanie and angrily tossing it aside. “Yeah. Understatement.”

Walt could see that Jesse’s ears lay flat against his head. Not that he needed to look to them to see that the boy was upset.

Walt was about to reach out to try and comfort him when suddenly with a slightly hopeful expression on his face, Jesse said, “Hey, maybe I can still work there. I mean, if I leave early enough I can-”

“Jesse, you don’t have a car and even with you running there and back again, which I imagine would be exhausting even for you, at the very least that adds up to ten hours of travel a day. And that’s being generous,” reasoned Walt, “It would be completely unmanageable in the long term.”

Walt watched as Jesse’s expression crumbled once again and guilt welled up inside of him. When Jesse had come rushing through the door, Walt had never seen him so happy, and now with his words, regardless of their truth along with their need to be said, Walt felt as if he had just stripped all of that away.

Walt frowned, his shoulders hunched.

“Hey, don’t worry. I promise I’ll still go,” said Jesse hastily, seeming to misinterpret Walt’s body language for worry that he wouldn’t be leaving rather than his guilt and concern regarding Jesse’s future wellbeing.

“You’ll be happy to finally get rid of me, huh?” Jesse laughed. Although Walt was certain he heard a crack in his voice.

Walt’s frown deepened. That wasn’t what he wanted at all.

 “Like you’ll finally have your place back to yourself. I won’t be in your way and stuff.”

 “Jesse-”

“I guess I could look for a place closer to the store. It’s a small town, but there’s gotta be some abandoned factory or houses there too, right?” said Jesse, sounding somewhat frantic, “And like I said, winter’s pretty much over so I could even pitch up a tent and-”

Walt didn’t hear the rest of Jesse’s words as an idea suddenly struck him; something so blatantly obvious that frankly it was ridiculous that it hadn’t occurred to him sooner.

“Jesse!” Walt cried, seemingly a little louder than he intended given the startled look Jesse gave him.

“Um, I…” Walt cleared his throat. “I may have a solution to your problem.”

Jesse’s eyes immediately widened while his ears perked up. “Seriously?”

“Yes. Well, for the past couple of weeks you’ve been making the journey to the store, there and back again, and you’ve seemed to manage the distance well enough, so I was thinking that perhaps it would be beneficial for you to stay here a little bit longer?”

Jesse expression changed to one of incredulousness, and inwardly Walt panicked. He had thought that Jesse hadn’t minded staying at the cabin, and that like him, perhaps Jesse had even grown to enjoy his company.

Could he have completely misinterpreted things? Maybe liking staying there had simply been a case of Jesse making the best of a bad situation, and enjoying his company was merely tolerating him.

“Of course, it’s only a suggestion,” Walt quickly added, “Just to tide you over till you can afford to rent your own place.”

Walt honestly couldn’t recall the last time he had felt so ridiculously insecure. Surely it had had to have been when he was a much younger man; possibly when he had asked Skyler to marry him. So why was he feeling so anxious now? And why over something like this? After all, asking someone to marry you and offering someone a couch to sleep on were in no way comparable.

Jesse continued to stare at him disbelievingly. “You…You would really let me live here?”

“I, uh, mean stay for longer that is,” Jesse quickly corrected.

“Well, I just thought it would be a better alternative to sleeping in some old abandoned factory,” he reasoned, “They aren’t exactly the safest of places. After all, depending how long they’ve laid empty and dormant for, there could be a lot of decay. For example, if you put too much weight and pressure on a rotting piece of wood, you could end up falling straight through the floor and injuring yourself badly and if there was no one else around then-”

Walt knew he was rambling but seemingly it was the only way he was actually able to articulate his concern for the boy without outright saying it.  He wondered if it said something about him as person that he felt that he had to justify caring for someone outside his own family. Perhaps it was simply the result of the world they lived in. Possibly both.

“But I owe you a lot already,” replied Jesse in a small voice, and Walt couldn’t help but notice Jesse’s hand grasping something inside his pocket. If he had to hazard a guess, it was no doubt the list he had written, “With rent and everything, it’d take like forever before I’d be able to pay you back your money.”

For a brief moment Walt wondered if that was simply an excuse, a polite way of declining his offer to stay without causing offence, but glancing into his eyes Walt immediately recognised that it wasn’t that the boy didn’t want to accept Walt’s offer of staying longer, it was him merely worrying that he would be taking advantage of Walt’s generosity. Just was clear with Jesse’s overenthusiastic reaction to getting a job, Jesse simply wasn’t used to people taking a chance on him; of showing kindness. And again, despite their numerous differences, Walt could relate to that.

He smiled, placing a hand on Jesse’s shoulder, that look of disbelief still fixed on his face. “I’m not exactly strapped for cash, Jesse. I did spend six months cooking the purest meth in the region. And not to toot my own horn, but possibly the world. So, I did make quite a bit of money. At least enough to be able take care of myself as well as my family for the foreseeable future,” Walt reassured, “As for rent, I did buy this cabin outright, so I wouldn’t be expecting anything too much.”

In all honestly, Walt wouldn’t have really minded if Jesse didn’t pay anything for staying there, but he didn’t want to seem _too_ desperate for Jesse to remain with him

“I understand that this isn’t exactly the nicest place in the world,” said Walt, his eyes darting around the small cabin, “And maybe sleeping on the couch isn’t the most-”

Walt didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence however as all of a sudden Jesse lunged at him.

There was a brief moment of panic as he almost overbalanced before Jesse was wrapping his arms around him. And Walt quickly realised that Jesse was in fact hugging him.

“Jesse?”

“Thank you!” Jesse cried. Or at least that’s what Walt thought Jesse said, his voice muffled somewhat from his face being pressed into the crook of Walt’s shoulder.

“Seriously, thanks so much, yo!”

Smiling, Walt returned the hug, enclosing his arms around Jesse and resting his hand on the small of his back.

“You’re welcome,” he replied softly.

With Walt’s body slightly twisted sideways and his leg caught in between both of Jesse’s, the positioning was somewhat awkward, but to Walt that didn’t matter in the least, instead choosing to indulge in the sensation. After all, when was the last time he had been hugged so earnestly?

In all honesty Walt couldn’t remember. And while Jesse was surely only showing his gratitude, the hug felt oddly intimate. 

Walt suspected this was due to not having experienced any warm familiarity in what seemed like an incredibly long time. Before Skyler had learned that Walt was cooking crystal meth and even before his cancer diagnosis they hadn’t exactly been overly intimate with one and other these past several years; either physically or emotionally. Sure, they had their moments, Holly’s conception being case in point, but most of the time when it came to their marriage it seemed as if they were simply going through the emotions. With a job he hated and a son who no longer depended on and looked up to him like he once had, Walt’s enjoyment for life had slowly started to ebb away. He still loved his family of course. Nothing could ever possibly change that. Nevertheless, he had felt as if something was missing.

Walt wondered if Skyler had experienced that same disfranchisement with life that he had.

Holly, despite being unplanned, was supposed to have brought joy back into his life; into _both_ their lives.

Sadly, it hadn’t worked out that way, and now Walt was in a position where he rarely even got to see his recently born daughter.

As a result, cooking meth seemed to have been the only thing he had going for him. And not just because of the money he had been making, but also because it had given him a strange sense of purpose. And perhaps due to its illegal nature, doing so had brought with it a sense of excitement, something he had thought to be long lost in his life. But just as was the case with his family, he soon lost that as well.

Immediately after however, Jesse Pinkman had come into his life; someone who despite Walt having absolutely nothing in common with, also appeared to have lost everything.  And regardless of his initial distrust and distaste towards the ‘mutt’, Walt had somehow grown to become rather fond of him.

While originally assuming it was purely down to having someone around to alleviate some of his feelings of isolation, Walt discovered that he had come to care for Jesse quite a bit. He was unsure exactly when he had started feeling that way; it perhaps having been when Jesse had gone out of his way to take care of him while he was bedridden with the flu. Not that the ‘when’ mattered much he supposed, the main thing being now that he wasn’t about to lose the one good constant he had in his life.

Smiling, Walt tightened his arms around Jesse, continuing to enjoy the feeling of having another body pressed again him; of being able to hold someone close to him.

“I assume that means you’ll stay then?” Walt asked, just to be sure.

“Totally!” cried Jesse before adding, “I uh, mean if you’re like still sure it’s okay and all?”

Walt chuckled. “I wouldn’t have offered otherwise.”

Jesse laughed as well and pulling back slightly, looking slightly embarrassed said, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Getting a proper look at his face, Walt thought he saw tears of gratitude in Jesse’s eyes.

“And hey you may not be living it up in some fancy mansion or nothing, but this place is a million times better than that shitty factory. Like for real, yo.”

“Plus, the couch is actually-” Jesse stopped suddenly and only at that moment seemed to realise that as well as the sofa, he was sat almost half on Walt’s lap. And just as quickly as he had leapt at Walt to hug him, he let go, scrambling off of him and standing up.

“Shit! Sorry!” he cried, his face now a bright red, “I didn’t mean… I just got like all excited, you know?”

Walt burst into laughter, feelings of endearment filling him. The pup really did have the best reactions. And Walt was reminded that he had probably laughed more in the past few weeks than he had in the past several years put together.

Jesse, pouted but it lasted only a moment however as the he broke into a smile. And if possible, to Walt it seemed even brighter than before when he had run into the house.

Seeing such a smile, along with Jesse’s perked up ears and wagging tail, Walt found it difficult not to feel pleased with himself knowing he was the one to cause such a sight.

“Seriously though, like, thanks.” And although still smiling, his tone turning more serious, said, “Most people wouldn’t even sit next to me on a bus let alone let me stay in their home. It’s like super awesome of you, you know?”

Walt smiled, wondering if they should do something to celebrate. In Jesse’s case it would be for getting a job and having a place to live, and for him… well to not being resigned to complete isolation. Of course, he wouldn’t celebrate that part out loud.

Given that Jesse had just returned from the store, Walt was sure he could rustle up something halfway decent for dinner, and he was sure he had a bottle of scotch stashed away somewhere in one of the kitchen cupboards so they could celebrate with a drink.

But before he could voice his plan out loud, Jesse said, “Hey, ain’t you supposed to be seeing your family tonight? That’s the whole reason I ran all the way back here so fast.”

“Oh, yes, I am.” He had been so caught up in Jesse’s news that he had completely forgotten. Walt glanced over at the clock. From the looks of it, he would be slightly late. Skyler would probably scold him but given the conversation he and Jesse had just had, he felt it was well worth it.

Then, realising what else Jesse had said, asked, “You ran all the way back here so you could tell me before I left to visit my family?”

Jesse’s face reddened. “What? No! I ain’t that lame!” Jesse protested, “I uh, just wanted to stretch my legs cause of, you know, an adrenaline rush or whatever, and I thought I might catch you before you left is all.”

Walt grinned. He didn’t believe Jesse’s excuse of course, and the fact that the pup had hurried back just to tell him was actually quite touching. It reminded him of Junior, the first time he had aced a test at school; how excited and desperate he was to tell Walt when he walked through the door, knowing that it would make him proud.

He truly missed those times. He just hoped he got to have them with Holly eventually.

In the meantime, he wondered if he would get to have more moments like that with Jesse.

 “I guess you should probably get going, huh?” said Jesse, interrupting him from his thoughts.

While he agreed, Walt felt a strange reluctance to do so. He wanted to see his family, he truly did, but a part of him also wanted to remain, to indulge in Jesse’s happiness just a little bit longer – especially with the knowledge that he was at least in part responsible for it – and celebrate with him.

Still, due to being ill he hadn’t seen his family in almost two weeks, and he did miss and was looking forward to spending time with them regardless of what kind of reception he would receive given that Skyler was still furious at him for everything and Junior, being a teenage boy, his moods were fickle. Holly at the very least being a baby had no opinion about him either way.

“Hey, you okay?” Jesse asked, sounding a little concerned.

Walt quickly stood up. “Of course. And you’re right, I should probably head off now.”

“I’ll be back in a few hours,” he said as he pulled on his coat.

Jesse nodded. “Cool. I guess I’ll do some laundry while you’re out. Feel all sweaty from running.”

That alone made Walt feel guilty about leaving. Doing laundry and watching TV by yourself didn’t exactly sound like the greatest way to celebrate and from what Walt knew about Jesse’s life so far, he doubted that there had been all that many things for the boy to get excited about.

He didn’t suspect that he would be late in returning however and made a mental note to pour Jesse a glass of scotch to celebrate when he got back.

 “Having like one set of clothes totally blows,” sighed Jesse, frowning, “I seriously need  some new threads. Especially if I’m gonna be working.”

“You can borrow another shirt if you want,” Walt offered.

Whenever doing laundry, Jesse would wear an old shirt of Walt’s along with an old pair of pants that he had cut a hole in to accommodate Jesse’s tail.

“Uh, nah, it’s cool, yo,” Jesse replied awkwardly declining his offer, to which Walt took to mean that he probably didn’t want to wear his ‘lame old clothes’.

It was true that his clothes didn’t exactly match Jesse’s particular style, the only similarity being that both Jesse’s own shirt and Walt’s were way too big on the boy. Jesse’s hoodie and pants engulfed his slender frame and Walt would have been completely baffled by the bizarre fashion choice if he hadn’t already seen similar clothes worn by some of his old students; those of which more often than not tended to be problem kids, regularly skipping classes and causing a ruckus when they did show up. Having to deal with them was one part of teaching that he definitely wouldn’t miss.

“Once I get paid, I’ll hit up some stores in the city.”

“Why wait?” asked Walt, struck by a thought, “Why don’t I drive us there tomorrow. I have a few things I’d like to pick up and you can go clothes shopping.”

 “That sounds awesome but I have like zero cash right now. Kinda used up all my spare money already.”

“I can lend you some in the meantime,” Walt offered.

“I dunno. You’ve-”

“Like you said, if you’re going to be working, you’ll need some new clothes,” reasoned Walt, “It wouldn’t look good going in wearing the same thing each day.”

Jesse shuffled awkwardly. “I guess.”

“Good. I’ll drive us into the city tomorrow.”

Reaching out, Walt placed his hand on Jesse’s head.

“I’m glad you got that job. I really am happy for you,” Walt congratulated again, and Jesse beamed at him.

With his beanie off, Walt was happy to be able to stroke and feel the softness of Jesse’s hair and ears, and he couldn’t help but notice that Jesse seemed to be learning into his touch, the pup clearly enjoying the sensation.

Smiling, he bid Jesse farewell.

And as he climbed into his car, he took a moment to reflect, happy in the knowledge that when he returned to the small cabin after seeing his family, he wouldn’t be alone; Jesse would be there waiting for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks very much for reading, and as always, comments and kudos are wonderfully apreciated. :)


	12. Chapter 12

Much to Walt’s surprise, Skyler didn’t scold him as soon as he walked through the door for being late, instead asking how he was feeling with what seemed to be genuine concern. As such, it was nice knowing that despite her anger towards him, she still seemed to care about his wellbeing.  

“Here, I brought Marie’s casserole dish with me,” he said, handing the item to Skyler, “I figured it’d be much more likely that you’d see her before I did.”

“Oh, thanks. Marie mentioned that Hank dropped by the other day.”

“She did, huh?” And for a brief moment he worried that Hank might have said something about the ‘mutt’ he had discovered staying with him before realising that there’s no way he wouldn’t have heard something ‘so huge’ by now.

Relaxing, he diverted his attention to his daughter, scooping her up from her playpen while Skyler shouted on Junior, or Flynn as he was going by these days. Although he would always be Walt Junior to him.  

“Hey, Dad!” he greeted happily, offering Walt a hug and for a moment Walt was reminded of the one he had shared with Jesse just less than two hours ago. Unlike Jesse’s however, it was over all too quickly.

“Hey, son. It’s awhile, huh?”

Dinner was pleasant affair and Walt found himself in a good mood throughout the night, Junior, even commenting on it, asking if something good had happened, leaving Walt to wonder just how he had been coming across to his family before.

He had simply smiled and said that he was happy to finally able to spend an evening with them, which was technically true. He just neglected to mention that the main reason for his good mood was due to the fact person who had spent the last six weeks staying in his cabin would be living with him for the foreseeable future.

A short while after dinner, Junior left to visit a friend while Walt read Holly a bedtime story and put her down for the night, something he greatly missed doing.

That left only him and Skyler, and despite an enjoyable and civil dinner, with the kids gone, that familiar awkwardness between them soon returned.

“Well, I should get going,” Walt announced as he stood up, a combination of not wanting to overstay his welcome and to get back to see Jesse.

“Oh, uh, sure,” answered Skyler as she placed one of the plates she was washing on the drying rack. Walt thought she sounded slightly surprised, perhaps because he wasn’t taking advantage of them being alone to try and patch things up and into of wanting to move back in as he had done so several times during previous visits.

“You seem a lot better,” she said as she walked him to the door.

“Oh, yeah. Flu is pretty much gone. It was nothing too serious. I just didn’t want you and the kids to catch as all.”

“No, not that. It’s just you seem…” She hesitated for a moment as if searching for the right words. “You just seem good is all. I’m…well, I’m glad”

“Oh,” said Walt dumbly, not sure quite sure how else to respond.

She gave him a small smile and just as when Junior had hugged him, he was reminded of the huge and vibrant grin Jesse had worn earlier.

He broke into a smile of his own, unsure if he was more pleased at seeing Skyler finally smile at him after months of hostility or the memory of Jesse smiling happily.

“Next week?” he dared to ask, “For dinner that is.”

She nodded, seeming unburdened by the question as she may have been just a few weeks ago. “Sure. Next week.”

Parting on good terms and the knowledge that for now at least, he wouldn’t have to fight to get to see his family, Walt got into his car and started to drive back to his cabin, the usual melancholy that filled him when leaving instead replaced with a feeling of contentment and relief. He even found himself humming along to a familiar song on the radio.  

“I’m home!” he announced as he walked through the door, and he paused for a moment, realising that was first time he had said the words when referring to the place. From his estranged family taking notice of his improved mood to referring to the cabin as ‘home’, it was slightly startling how much Jesse’s presence in his life was affecting him.

“So, I was thinking we could celebrate with a little scotch. How does that sound?” asked Walt as he removed his coat and boots.

There was no reply however and as he walked further into the cabin he peered over the couch to find Jesse slouched against its side. While he had had the duvet wrapped around him due to his hoodie and rest of his clothes in the wash, it was clear he had fallen asleep watching TV.

While a part of Walt wanted to wake the boy, Walt decided to let him sleep, aware that he was probably quite tired. It had been a big day for Jesse after all, and he had run the entire way back to the cabin from town. That fact alone brought a smile to Walt’s face; knowing that Jesse had been so ridiculously excited to tell him about getting a job that he had rushed back. He couldn’t help but wonder if the pup had also tried staying awake until he returned.

Deciding to turn in for the night himself, Walt switched off the TV and spread the duvet evenly over Jesse’s sleeping form, careful not to wake him. It dawned on him, that it was the second time he had more or less ‘tucked’ Jesse in for the night.

And just as he had done before despite knowing Jesse wouldn’t hear his words, he quietly bid Jesse goodnight before switching off the light and heading to bed himself.

 

The next morning as Walt opened his bedroom door, he was treated to the sweet smell of bacon cooking and glancing over towards the kitchen he saw Jesse standing there next to the stove clad in Walt’s shirt his tail swooshing slightly behind him.

He appeared to be talking to himself as he cracked an egg in the frying pan. “This is your brain.” He cracked another one. “And this your brain on drugs.”

“Hey, there,” Walt greeted, finding himself strangely admiring the sight. While Jesse had made him soup and toast and whatnot while he was ill, he had never actually seen Jesse cook before.

The boy jumped.

“Sorry,” Walt apologised.

“Nah, it’s cool, yo,” Jesse reassured, simply looking happy to see him.

“What’s all this? It smells good,” Walt complimented as he approached the kitchen.

“Thanks. Sorry, I kind of meant to have it done before you woke up so I could bring it to you in…” Jesse stopped talking, and Walt saw Jesse’s cheeks redden slightly.

“Anyway, it should be ready now!” declared Jesse, turning away from Walt and back to the food.

Walt couldn’t help but smile, realising that it had been Jesse’s intention to bring it to him in bed. Between wearing Walt’s shirt and cooking him breakfast to bring to him in bed, Walt thought it wouldn’t have been farfetched to see Jesse’s behaviour as that of a lover. Of course, Jesse was only wearing his shirt because his own clothes were drying and him cooking Walt breakfast was merely to demonstrate his appreciation for allowing him to stay. Nevertheless, the thought persisted, and Walt quickly tried to distract himself.

“Do you want some coffee?” he asked as he picked up the coffee pot sitting on the counter.

“I can get that!” cried Jesse turning to Walt before hurriedly turning back to the food that he was trying to get from the pan onto one of the plates.

 “It’s fine,” answered Walt, deciding that despite the lack of answer that he would make enough for Jesse anyway.

The toaster popped up with some bread and Jesse rushed to grab that, cursing as he tried to pick up the toast when it was too hot. Walt chuckled, and he couldn’t help but feel touched by Jesse making him breakfast as well as his efforts to do everything.

“Here,” said Jesse, eventually handing Walt a plate filled with eggs, bacon and toast as he sat down at the table.

“Thank you,” replied Walt appreciatively, “You really didn’t need to.”

“It’s cool. I woke up pretty early this morning and was sorta bored. Plus I wanted to…” Jesse admitted, looking slightly awkward before shrugging. “Anyway, it’s the least I can do after everything, you know?”

Walt reached out and placed his hand on Jesse’s head. “Thank you,” he said again, and Jesse’s ears perked up from the praise.

 

After breakfast and once Jesse’s clothes had sufficiently dried – he was adamant that there was no way in hell he was going out wearing a pair of Walt’s slacks – they both got ready and headed off to the city. The journey there was pleasant enough, although they did have a small disagreement over Walt’s choice of radio station with Jesse branding its music as ‘lame’. After Jesse had reached over and changed the station, Walt didn’t manage even one song before he abruptly turned it back.

“How can you even consider that to be music?” he had asked, glancing over at Jesse, baffled.

“Better than the stuff you listen to,” Jesse countered looking decidedly unimpressed.

Nevertheless, out of the corner of his eyes, throughout the drive, Walt caught Jesse’s fingers tapping against the window to the rhythm of several songs that plays. Smirking to himself, Walt counted that as a victory.

Parking in the city as always was a nightmare and even though there where probably closer ones nearer by, Walt chose the parking lot he usually used whenever he and his family came, it only being when he actually parked the car that Walt realised just how long it had been since he had last visited.

“Here. This should be enough to get some new clothes,” said Walt as he held out several bills of cash from his wallet for Jesse to take.

Jesse however seemed almost tentative to accept it, glancing down at the money for a good several seconds before looking up at Walt’s face.

“Just take it already,” Walt urged, somewhat impatiently.

The whole reason they had come to the city was for Jesse to get some new clothes so there was no point in him being hesitant now.

“I feel like I’m getting allowance from my Dad,” Jesse joked, making Walt roll his eyes.

“Do you want new clothes or not?”

“Hey, you’re the one that said I can’t turn up to work wearing the same thing each day, and I sure as hell ain’t gonna be seen outside wearing your lame-ass clothes,” Jesse retorted.

“Because mines are too big? Isn’t that the same with your own?” Walt countered, “You should at least try and get clothes that fit you this time, regardless of your small.”

“Hey, my clothes fit me fine, yo!” Jesse protested as he opened the car door and climbed out.

Walt burst out laughing at that. He thought Jesse’s clothes made him look much smaller than he actually was and the boy was rather petite to begin with.

However, with more clothes of his own, Walt realised that Jesse would no longer need to keep wearing his old shirts when doing laundry and a for a moment Walt was struck by how he would miss the sight, suddenly reminded of the image of Jesse from that morning cooking breakfast for them and how Walt’s his shirt had reached to just slightly above Jesse’s knees.

“Hey, you coming or what?” Jesse asked impatiently, glancing though the window, awakening Walt from his bizarre thoughts.

“Uh, yes,” Walt answered, quickly climbing out.

The city was packed to the brim with people rushing by, going about their everyday business with barely a glance or consideration for anyone else. Walt already found it slightly jarring considering that he had spent the past six months in a small cabin located at least several miles from anywhere else. And while he hadn’t been isolated completely, most of his social experiences before Jesse had started staying with him had involved only the very occasional visits with his family and very brief interactions with the people who had employed him to cook crystal meth. As such, it was oddly difficult to come to terms with the fact that so many people could all be gathered in the one place at the same time.

Jesse seemed to be feeling similarly if the nervous glances he was constantly casting around him were anything to go by. He really did look like he wanted to absolutely anywhere else, which was somewhat baffling as Jesse had hinted in previous conversations that other than that shoddy old warehouse he resided in, he spent most of his free time in the city. After a month and a half cooped up in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, other than his occasional jaunts into town the past couple of weeks, Walt thought Jesse would have been desperate to return to the hustle and bustle of the big city.

However, clearly this was not the case given that at one point when they were crossing the road, Jesse visibly flinched when some man wearing a fancy suit bumped into him.

The man tilted his head back to scowl at him but otherwise continued on walking, like everyone else around them, in a hurry to get to wherever he was going. Jesse may have been small but compared to the people the boy used to work with, Walt thought the man didn’t appear to be someone Jesse should be scared of, especially since Walt suspected that Jesse could outrun him with ease.

Nevertheless, despite his confusion, Walt found himself asking Jesse if was alright.

“I’m _fine_ ,” Jesse spat, suddenly reminding Walt far more of Walt Junior during one his mood swings or a petulant student than the young man who had smiled at and hugged him so earnestly the night before.

“Look, I’ll meet up with you later, okay?” said Jesse, rushing off before Walt got the chance to say anything else.

Walt would have felt completely put out if they hadn’t already discussed during the drive that they would part ways at the street they were just about to cross over to with the agreement to rendezvous in a few hours’ time allowing each other some space as well as plenty of time to get what they came for. Nonetheless, Walt couldn’t say that Jesse’s abrupt hurry to get away from him didn’t sting a little.

Walt glanced down at his watch to reconfirm how much time he had. Not that he planned on buying much however. While he hadn’t lied about wanting to pick up some things, the main reason for suggestion of their journey into the city other than allowing Jesse to get new clothes was so he could stretch his legs and get out for a bit. His bout of the flu aside, since losing his job cooking meth, he had become rather sedentary, which while already not exactly being great for his health, he also very much wanted to keep off the weight he had lost during his cancer treatment.

As such, Walt made a mental note to exercise more and wondered if he should make an effort to join Jesse whenever he went out for a walk. Then again, he would undoubtedly only slow Jesse down, the pup after all seeming to have boundless energy. Perhaps that’s why he had rushed off so quickly earlier, thought Walt, Jesse feeling that he was holding him back. That and the desire for space, which was understandable given they had spent the better part of six weeks together.

Inwardly Walt sighed. Apparently, he had gone from years of mindlessly wandering through life to overthinking every little thing.

Still, company or no, Walt intended on taking advantage of his time in the city and went to pick up a couple of new shirts of his own.

It didn’t take much time up however, even with the aim to be more spontaneous and choosing to shop elsewhere than his usual go to store, and so, with nowhere else particular in mind, Walt wandered into a large department store that Skyler – despite the unreasonable prices in his opinion – was always fond of.

Unlike past visits where he had aimlessly followed Skyler around, Walt found himself actually consciously browsing the items and furniture on display

Before, it hadn’t so much been that Skyler hadn’t valued his opinion when it came to decorating but simply that Walt hadn’t really cared all that much about it. Now, however, perhaps with the knowledge that he would be living in the cabin for the foreseeable future and given that most of the furniture had come with the place when he bought it, Walt wondered if he should try and give the cabin his own touch so to speak. Of course, what exactly his own touch was, he was unsure. Nevertheless, the place could definitely do with a good upgrade in decor, that was for sure.

“Sir, can I help you?” a young woman who Walt could only assume was a shop assistant asked, appearing out of nowhere, almost scaring him half to death.

“Uh, no, I’m fine, thank you,” he said, “Just, uh, browsing…”

He wasn’t used to the question being directed at him what with Skyler always being there as well and visibly revealing herself to be the far more infested person in whatever they were looking at.

He left after that, finding himself feeling somewhat melancholy. While it wasn’t as if divorce was exactly uncommon, he never thought he himself would be in a situation where he would be looking to buy furniture and decorate a place that was his alone; a place devoid of his family.

His mind supplied that he had Jesse at least before he quickly squashed it, it being far from the same thing. Besides Jesse may be staying with him for the next while but it was hardly a lifetime commitment. His marriage with Skyler certainly hadn’t been, so it was highly doubtful that Jesse living with him would be either.

In the end, Walt supposed it all just came back to the fact that nothing in life was ever certain. He had never expected to live somewhere without his family by his side, and he certainly never thought he would be happy about a ‘mutt’ being his housemate.

Maybe it was still too soon to be really comfortable with and accept his situation but until then he could at least try to look ahead, and so as he left the store, he picked up one of the large catalogues from the racks.

Realising that he still had an hour or so before he was supposed to meet up with Jesse, Walt wandered into a large bookstore with the aim of picking up a few books to occupy his time. As it turned out, there were only so many of the books that he had brought with him to the cabin that he could reread or TV he could watch without feeling like he was going crazy or that his brain would actually turn to mush. And once again Walt was reminded of how thankful he was to Jesse to have the presence of another person.

He browsed through the fiction section first, picking up a couple of novels that sounded halfway interesting from the burb on their covers before heading over to the nonfiction section. While his first instinct was usually to go to the Chemistry or Science books, he instead found himself wandering over to the History section, picking up a book at random and proceeding to flick through it.

With so much information or ‘history’ having been lost, Walt couldn’t help but feel that many of the books that sat on shelves before him belonged to be shelved in the fiction aisle for how little truth they actually held. After all, the past several hundred years aside, with very few records left intact from the ‘Before Times’, much of what was written was purely speculative, and in some cases outright fabrications in what Walt believed was a futile attempt to make sense of the world at large and to fill in the gaps. From his experience however, most people didn’t concern themselves with such thoughts, and in many cases, simply didn’t want to know. His mother had been one of those people, often telling him as a child that if ‘God’ had wanted them to know what had happened in the past, _God_ wouldn’t have gotten rid of everything and that it was _God’s_ desire for the world to start anew.

Walt as a child had always wanted to argue if this really was the case then why were there any records left in the first place? But being the good son that he was, he chose to keep his mouth shut; mainly not to upset his mother but also because in a way he didn’t actually care all that much himself, his natural scientific curiosity causing him to be far more interested in discovery and moving forward than looking back to some unknown past which as things stood seemed to be impossible to confirm.

It had only been when he was older however that he realised that moving forward didn’t quite follow the process he thought it did.

After all, the one and only really true thing that could be said about the ‘Before Times’ was that humanity had been far more technologically advanced than the humans that populated the world today, the Elites included, despite their extravagant boasting. And given how little they knew about the actual people who lived back then, it was only logical to assume that vast amounts of information had vanished and been lost along with them, in turn leaving their descendants almost completely in dark, only able to cobble together societies from what little fragments were left behind.

Walt could ignore the past and focus on the future all he wanted but in the end, any scientific breakthrough that occurred now would in fact merely be a ‘rediscovery’, something someone hundreds – if not thousands – of years ago had already determined.  

As child that realisation had distressed him greatly, knowing that no matter what ground-breaking discovery he unveiled to the world, it wouldn’t truly be his own but that of someone who’s name had been long forgotten, their legacy lost to time.

Thankfully, it hadn’t deterred Walt from his love of science and chemistry, but still, even now he wondered how long it would be before somebody discovered something utterly _new_ , something that would completely revolutionise the world; something that even their ancestors hadn’t been able to achieve.

Yes, a new discovery was something he would never witness in his lifetime. Perhaps that was why he was far prouder of the methamphetamine that he had cooked than he had any right to be, knowing just how popular and famous his brand of meth ‘Blue Sky’ had been. Sure, he had technically been making poison for addicts but at least the product he made was pure, the purest meth there ever had been; at least in present times.

Walt was jolted from his thoughts as he found himself breaking into a small coughing fit, and while it was likely from the remnants of the flu, he was reminded immediately of his brush with cancer. If only people from the ‘Before Time’s’ had left the cure for that behind somewhere, he thought sourly, then he wouldn’t have had to go through everything he had experienced; wouldn’t have lost his family, wouldn’t have lost everything trying to provide for them and pay off his medical bills.

He had no doubt in his mind that such a disease was of no consequence to them. Sure, cancer could be treated now but certainly there was no outright cure for it, Walt having at one point been positive that he would die from his lung cancer, only going ahead with medical treatments at the urging of his family.

Feeling miserable, he quickly left the aisle and headed in search of the Science section, it being only when he gotten there that he realised that along with the novels he had tucked under his arm, he still had that history book in his hand. However, rather than wander back and place it back on his shelf, he decided just to go ahead and buy it along with the other books he had picked up. It been purely speculative or not, reading through it would at least pass the time, and so after picking up a couple of science related texts he headed to the checkout to pay for them.

It dawned on Walt that as he handed over the money to the cashier that not so long ago, buying several books like he was would have been considered a luxury for him. And that was even before his cancer diagnosis and the addition of Holly to the family. Buying a book mainly because he couldn’t be bother returning it to where he had picked it up would have been completely unthinkable.

As such, as much as Skyler resented him for what he had done to gain it, money wise, both he and his family were far better off than they had ever been.

The bookstore also had an extensive magazine section and so after he had paid and seeing that he still had some time left before he was supposed to rendezvous with Jesse he decided to flick through some of the ones that he was fond of in the meantime.

His expression hardened however as he chanced across an article in one publication detailing his former business partners Gretchen and Elliot’s latest ‘breakthroughs in science’ along with ongoing details about the ever-continuing success of their – of _his_ – company ‘Gray Matter’.

The piece was accompanied by a picture of them standing there together smiling with Elliot’s arm wrapped around Gretchen’s waist, causing anger to well up inside him over just how damned happy and pleased with themselves they looked.

He held no doubts that they were living it up amongst the rest of the Elites, barely lifting a finger to actually run their company or directly contribute to any of the _actual_ scientific research going on while reaping all the benefits; benefits that by all rights should have extended to both him and his family.

More frustrating still was that Walt had ended up having to involve them in his little cover story to Skyler as to where he had suddenly acquired the money to cover his medical bills. Not that the lie even lasted long before she had learned the truth, in turn making his little fiction of Gretchen and Elliot paying for his cancer treatment both pointless and unnecessary, as well as serving to add to his humiliation.

While he had spent a long while thinking it over and trying to come up with an explanation as to how he suddenly had enough money to pay for his expensive cancer treatment when the family was already struggling just to get by, Gretchen and Elliot offering to cover his medical bills seemed to him to be the most convincing story, even in spite of how much he resented the thought, and his absolute certainty that had they offered to do so in real life he wouldn’t have accepted it. Still, they were the only people he and Skyler really knew who had so much money at their disposal that forking over some to pay for a ‘friends’ cancer treatment wasn’t an issue for them. After all, if their company’s stock prices were anything to go by, they would easily make that money back in an hour, a fact that infuriated Walt whenever he reflected on all that he had missed out on.  

Originally, he had thought about saying he had gotten the money from some long-lost relative who had recently passed away, but with the timing of it being as it was, just when he and his family needed the money more than ever, it felt too farfetched and coincidental for his liking; unbelievable almost. Gretchen and Elliot were at least real people, people he knew, and people Skyler had actually met before. That alone in his mind gave his story some credibility.

While again coincidental in its own way, Walt had explained to Skyler that he had ran into them by chance and after a small catch up had let it slip about his cancer and how after a series of relentless questions revealed that they were struggling to pay for Walt’s treatments of which they had then generously offered to cover the cost of his medical bills as a kindness and favour to an old friend.

He had forced a smile through gritted teeth as he said all of this to Skyler, but she had been so relieved and thankful that she hadn’t noticed his obvious anger and discomfort with the ‘arrangement’.

As well as easily having enough money to cover his treatment, the lie also worked in that while Walt had told Skyler he had run into them by chance, it was highly unlikely that he or Skyler would actually ever see them again. After all, they lived in one of the Elite cities far removed from them and since he and Skyler would almost certainly never get the opportunity to step foot in one and it being incredibly doubtful that Gretchen and Elliot would have business in a place such as this, as an alibi it worked out well.

While Skyler had been adamant that she needed to call and thank them personally, Walt thankfully had been able to convince her to write a letter instead by reiterating how important they were and how a phone call would only cut into their busy schedule.

Of course, Skyler’s letter had never reached them.

It had physically pained Walt and deeply wounded his pride to spout such a lie and keep up the pretence; to tell his wife that he was accepting charity and that the money he had worked so hard to earn had come from someone else.

Despite Skyler’s shock and disgust at where it had truly come from, in a way he had been almost pleased that she finally knew that the money that was supporting their family had actually come from him and not some people who in his opinion had completely screwed him over.

Walt gripped the edges of the magazine pages forcefully, anger continuing to well up inside him to the point where he was half tempted to rip out the pages when all of a sudden, he heard a voice from behind him say, “Man, you really are a nerd, huh?”

Startled, Walt immediately darted around, finding himself greeted by the sight of Jesse.

“Really? All these magazines here and this is the section you go to?” snorted Jesse, his shoulder brushing against Walt’s as he tried to get a closer look at what Walt was reading before taking the magazine off of him altogether, which was probably a good thing in Walt’s opinion given he had just experienced a strong urge to tear it apart.

“Man, how can you read this stuff?” questioned Jesse, a teasing smile on his face as he briefly flicked through it, “Like I know you said you used to teach science and shit, but still...”

Despite criticising what he was most passionate about in life, upon seeing Jesse’s face, Walt found his anger begin to fade. He also noticed that Jesse appeared a lot more relaxed than when he had rushed off earlier with barely a goodbye. Nevertheless, in spite of his newfound contempt for the magazine he had just been reading, Walt still felt the need to defend it somewhat.

“I’ll have you know, this magazine contains a lot of fascinating articles,” said Walt, using the same voice he had whenever a student questioned the relevance of needing to learn science, “Not to mention, it details all the latest scientific advancements that are happening.”

Jesse rolled his eyes as he handed the magazine back to Walt, clearly not impressed. “Yeah, but does it like really matter? Most of the stuff in there ain’t gonna benefit people like you and me, right? People who don’t live in those big fancy ass cities anyway.”

Walt frowned. Jesse was mostly correct. Any discovery – or rediscovery – would mostly be used to benefit the Elites, at least for the foreseeable future. The Elites may be maintaining their affluent lifestyles based off of fragments of knowledge from the ‘Before Times’, but people like he and Jesse; people in this city, they were the one’s reduced to living off the Elites scraps.

It was infuriating to say the least.

Walt tossed the thing back down on the rack, seriously considering against purchasing any future issues, knowing that it would only serve as a reminder of Gretchen and Elliot’s betrayal and everything else he had lost in his life so far.  

“Hey, wait, I’m sure some of what’s in it is kinda interesting or whatever,” Jesse quickly said, sounding somewhat panicked, “I mean I don’t get it at like _all_ but I-”

Clearly Jesse had mistaken his frustration as Walt being annoyed about his comments. He was about to reassure the younger man that it was fine, that he wasn’t angry with him when Walt abruptly realised something.

“Wait, what are you even doing here?”

While not unusual, it somewhat coincidental that they would both end up here at the exact same time.

“Oh, well, I pretty much got what I needed already,” Jesse answered, holding up a couple of shopping bags, “And since there’s not like much time from when we’re supposed to meet up, I figured I may as well come get you to save you having to go back to the meeting spot or whatever.”

“But, uh, hey, if you want more time I can like go and come back later or meet you whenever, if you have more shit you gotta do or get,” Jesse added, rubbing at the back of his neck.

Walt shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I was just passing the time here until we were supposed to meet up is all,” he assured.

“But how did you even find me?” Walt asked curiously.

Within the timeframe they had agreed upon it was unlikely that either of them would have wandered off too far but nevertheless the city was still rather huge, and they hadn’t actually discussed with each other where they would be going, so for Jesse to find him here like this – unless he had somehow placed secret tracking device on Walt’s person, which was doubtful – was quite an achievement. Of course, it was possible that Jesse had simply guessed that a bookstore was a probable place to find him given that the boy often poked fun at Walt for being what Jesse deemed to be ‘a nerd’ and so in Jesse’s mind a bookstore was an obvious choice of place where someone like Walt would go.

Walt suspected this probably wasn’t the case however given how incredibly uncomfortable Jesse suddenly looked after being questioned.

“I, uh, just got lucky, I guess,” Jesse replied, shuffling awkwardly.

Walt frowned, not buying it in the slightest. Even without his ears on show, the pup was still rather easy to read.                                                                               

“Is that really the case?” Walt asked, and the tone of his voice must have struck something in Jesse as the younger man eyes widened.

 “ _Fine_. I was-” Jesse paused quickly glancing around as if checking to see if anyone was listening. Although why anyone would have any interest in their conversation whatsoever Walt had no idea. “I was sorta nearby and I, well, picked up your…”

Jesse hesitated, in turn making Walt grow impatient.

“ _Yes_?”

“I picked up your scent, _okay_?” Jesse hissed quietly.

Walt blinked, confused.

“My scent? You mean to say that you somehow _smelt_ your way here to me?” Walt asked in astonishment. He was aware that mutts had good senses of smell – superior to that of normal human beings anyway – but to be able to pick up his scent in the middle of busy city bursting with so many people…well that was certainly an impressive feat.

Once he got over his initial surprise Walt noticed that Jesse’s eyes were fixed downwards, his shoulders slumped.

Jesse sighed loudly. “Look I know that it’s like super weird, yo” he said sounding somewhat distraught after revealing just how he had found him, “I should have just waited for you where we’d agreed to meet up. Seriously, I don’t know why I-”

“Jesse. Jesse, it’s fine,” Walt interrupted, reaching out and placing his hands on Jesse’s shoulders. The pup didn’t look up however and on closer inspection Walt saw what was clearly an expression of shame on Jesse’s face, as was usually the case whenever something related to Jesse being different from regular humans came up. He had already reassured Jesse before that he hadn’t a problem with the differences in his appearance – something which was probably very obvious by now anyway given how Walt seemed to look for any excuse to reach out and touch Jesse’s ears – so perhaps he could do the same with this.

“I don’t think it’s weird. It’s not something I– nor most people for that matter –could ever do, but the fact that you were able to track me down on my scent alone is really incredible,” Walt admitted, truly meaning it.

It was rather fascinating after all. Sure, each person had their own scent but most of the time it went undetected, with most people only taking notice of a person’s smell if they were wearing a strong perfume or aftershave, or if the person happened to suffer from horribly unpleasant body odour.

As such, Walt couldn’t help but wonder if Jesse’s heightened sense of smell had a strong impact on the way he perceived the world around him, perhaps even having as much a bearing as sight and sound.  Nevertheless, despite his instant burst of curiosity, Walt decided that right now probably wasn’t the best time to ask the pup.

“You, uh, really think so?” Jesse asked tentatively, raising his head ever so slightly at Walt’s words.

Walt nodded, letting go of Jesse’s shoulders. “I do. Plus, it’s nice to know that if I ever get lost in those woods surrounding the cabin that I can rely on you to come find me,” Walt chuckled, hoping to lighten the mood. If Jesse could find him in the bustling city filled with a million different people and smells, he imagined it would be easy enough to find him in those woods.

“It really is quite a gift,” Walt complimented, and Jesse’s cheeks reddened somewhat.

“I don’t know about it being a gift or nothing,” Jesse replied awkwardly, “Any mutt can do it. But...” He paused for a moment before breaking into a small smile. “But, yeah, I would totally come find you.”

Jesse sounded so earnest when he said so that Walt found himself momentarily breathless. Just as Jesse had rushed back the day before to tell him about getting a job, Walt couldn’t help but feel a little touched that the boy had deliberately sought him out here as well. Of course, it could have simply been because he hadn’t wanted to wait about, but with all the stores and whatnot in a city like this, surely Jesse could have found something to do in the meanwhile to entertain himself. Instead however, he had came and found Walt.

Having spent the past several months forcibly separated from his family, the idea of being wanted was certainly welcome to him, and Walt wanted to reach out to Jesse, and show his appreciation.

Walt was jolted from his thoughts however when someone else wandered into the aisle squeezing between both he and Jesse to grab a magazine, resulting in them quickly taking steps back out of the way.

Walt coughed to cover his embarrassment. “So, should we go then?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sure.”

And with that they left the store.

“Hey, uh, hold up,” said Jesse once they were outside, reaching into his pocket. It was only when he did so that Walt realised that the pants Jesse was currently wearing were different from what he had on earlier. Walt guessed that he must have changed into them after choosing them in whatever store he had bought them from.

Like the pair that Walt had seen him wearing over the past six weeks, they were also black but far less baggy. Nevertheless, they still didn’t quite look like they entirely fitted him. More importantly however, Walt noticed that Jesse’s tail was as no longer on show. This along with the hat he was wearing, concealing his ears, meant that to everyone who walked by or spared him a glance, Jesse would appear to be a completely normal human being.

Walt thought that this may have explained Jesse’s previous behaviour given that when they had first come to the city, his tail had been hanging out from the back of his pants for all the world to see. Walt already knew Jesse felt more comfortable when he was able to hide his identity as a mutt – or rather, pup as Walt’s mind would correct the word to – which was sad, but at the same time, it heartened him to know that Jesse didn’t feel he had to do so with Walt, happy to have both his ears and tails on display when they were alone in the cabin together.

Walt couldn’t help but smile.

“What’s the matter?” Jesse asked him, squinting.

“Nothing,” Walt replied before noticing that Jesse held his arm outstretched to him, several dollar bills and coins in his hand. “What’s this?”

“It’s yours, yo,” Jesse answered, as if Walt was being slow, “I didn’t spend all the money you gave me so here’s what’s left.”

“Well, this is new. I certainly can’t remember Junior ever handing me back any of the allowance he didn’t spend,” Walt said in amusement.

Jesse stared at him, a look of confusion on his face and Walt rolled his eyes. “Earlier you said me giving you money was like getting an allowance from your…well, Dad.”

Walt felt strangely uncomfortable saying that last part, perhaps given that Jesse really was young enough, or rather _he_ was old enough to be the boy’s father.

Jesse laughed at that. “Oh, yeah.”

Walt was about to tell Jesse to keep it until he recalled the day before; just how adamantly Jesse had insisted on paying him back. And so, he took the money from him.

A silence followed as people continued to walk past them. Although it was the weather was starting to slowly warm up, it was still slightly chilly and so after handing Walt the money, Jesse placed his hands in his hoodie pockets. Apparently unlike his pants, his large yellow hoodie remained a permanent fixture, continuing to engulf Jesse’s small frame.

“So, should we like head back now?” Jesse asked, seeming to look to Walt to signal what should happen next.

Walt didn’t have anything else he planned on picking up or doing and given that Jesse had came and sought him out, he supposed the boy was the same. As such, it made sense to leave. Nevertheless, after having been cooped up for so long Walt felt like he should at least make most of being out with the confines of the small cabin he now called home.

“Hey, why don’t we use the rest of this money to grab a bite to eat?” Walt suggested, the money that Jesse had just returned to him still in his hand. While it was a bit too early for dinner, it had been quite a while since breakfast and given that they hadn’t had lunch, Walt felt they should probably eat something.

Jesse immediately perked up at the proposal. “Sure!”

Walt proceeded to ask Jesse if there was anywhere in particular that he wanted to eat to which Jesse merely shrugged his shoulders.

“Come on now. Surely there’s somewhere you want to eat,” urged Walt, opting to give Jesse the choice.

“I dunno. Uh, hey, how about there?” said Jesse pointing at a place across the street, it appearing to be a small burger joint. It certainly didn’t stand out in any particular way leaving Walt to think that Jesse had just picked it out at random.

“You want to eat there?” questioned Walt, somewhat disappointed by Jesse’s choice.

Again, Jesse shrugged.

“I just thought the food there smelt kind of nice, you know?”

Walt was momentarily impressed that Jesse could smell the food from all away across the street before quickly remembering how easily the pup had tracked him down earlier.

“It kinda made me realise how long it’s been like since I’ve had a burger. But if you wanna eat somewhere else that’s cool.”

 “No. Here is good,” Walt assured him. After all, he didn’t have anywhere else particularly in mind and the place Jesse had chosen was probably a good a place as any.

Jesse smiled. “Awesome.”

And so, with that decided, they crossed the street and headed on in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Life and health getting in the way. Updates should hopefully be a bit more regular now however. 
> 
> Thanks very much for much for reading. Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated, and again sorry for the wait.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies. I meant to have this chapter out sooner but it ended up being quite a bit longer than I intended.

Walt observed that the place didn’t seem overly busy as they went in, perhaps in part due to the fact that it was sometime between what most people would consider lunch and dinner. Nevertheless, Jesse quickly made a beeline for one of the booth tables next to the window near the back, almost as if he didn’t get there first, some other person would suddenly appear and claim it. Walt was unsure if Jesse was wanting more to be out of the way of the other customers or if he just wanted to be able gaze out the window. Not that outside presented much of a view of course. Nonetheless, Walt did however on occasion enjoy people watching and it had certainly been quite a while since he last had the chance to do so.

Glancing around as he followed Jesse, Walt noticed from the decor that the small diner was very much like the places he, Skyler and Junior would go to grab a bite to eat at whenever they visited the city, their budget being rather limited. The food tended to only to ever really be mediocre, but still they had always enjoyed themselves. Particularly when Junior was younger.

It honestly felt like a lifetime since those times and as a sudden bout of melancholy hit him. Walt wondered if he would ever have the chance to experience moments like that again, or if going on a simple trip with his family to the city would be lost to him forever.

“Hey, you okay?” Jesse asked, looking somewhat concerned as Walt took a seat across from him.

“Uh, you know we can go find some other place to eat, right?” Jesse added awkwardly when Walt didn’t reply.

“I’m _fine_ , Jesse. This place…it’s fine,” Walt answered, repressing a sigh.

Jesse looked slightly dejected by his response. But Walt ignored it, instead picking up the menu in front of him.

The food on the menu was relatively cheap which Walt believed probably reflected the quality of it.

After Holly had finally been born, and after his big operation with his medical bills were no longer being an issue, Walt had fantasised about taking Skyler out for a delicious gourmet meal at some fancy five-star restaurant in one of the city’s more affluent areas; for them to actually be able to treat themselves for once and live it up a little instead of worrying about every single penny they spent.

Of course, by the time things had gotten to that point, Skyler had discovered the source of his newfound wealth and kicked him out before he had gotten the chance to even propose the idea of a night out in the town. And just as quickly as they had formed, his hopes of treating his wife, as well as himself, had been dashed.

Now here he was in some cheap diner that only served to remind him of both his family and all the things that he couldn’t, or rather was forbidden to give them.

Placing the menu down, staring out in front of him, suddenly it wasn’t Jesse sitting across from him but instead his wife and son.

“You two wanting to order a drink?” came a voice, startling Walt from his thoughts.

Glancing upwards, he saw a young woman with blonde hair, appearing to be in her early twenties standing there, a notepad in her hand, clearly their waitress.

“Just a coffee,” answered Walt with little thought.

“And you?” the woman asked, turning to Jesse.

“Um…” Despite having been looking at it the entire time, Jesse quickly scanned the menu again. “How about a chocolate milkshake?”

“Coming right up,” their waitress replied cheerily, and Walt couldn’t help but notice the huge smile she shot at Jesse as she left, Jesse grinning in return.

Walt found himself frowning.

“A chocolate milkshake, really?” scoffed Walt.

“What? Milkshakes taste awesome!” defended Jesse.

“If you say so,” Walt replied in a dismissive manner, his eyes returning to the menu even though he had already decided what he wanted.

Walt thought the choice of beverage seemed more suited to a child or perhaps a young couple on a date than that of an adult man. Then again, Jesse didn’t exactly project maturity and he did have a strange innocence to him.

Walt Junior had always been partial to strawberry milkshakes when he had been younger, and Jesse’s choice of where to eat along with drink order was only serving to further remind him of his absent family. As such, it was difficult not to feel a bit frustrated with the whole situation.

Their waitress returned shortly with their drink orders, placing them down on the table in front of them, Jesse wasting no time in pulling his milkshake closer towards himself.

“So, you two ready to order some food?” she asked, although Walt noticed that her eyes seemed to be focused solely on Jesse, her body angled towards his side of the table.

Walt frowned once again, not taking kindly to the fact that he was more or less being ignored by someone who was supposed to be serving both of them. And just as Jesse opened his mouth to give his order, Walt swooped in first.

“I’ll have the steak,” he said, startling the young woman as she quickly turned around to him, almost as if forgetting he existed despite having placed his cup of coffee down before him just moments previously.

He closed the menu. “Also, I’ll have it well done.”

“Oh, uh, sure. That’s no problem,” she replied, trying to sound pleasant but unable to quite hide the uneasiness in her voice as she quickly jotted his order down, after which she turned back to Jesse. “And what about you, sir? What will you be having?”

“ _Sir_? Man, I ain’t never been called that before,” Jesse laughed.

“Sorry,” she replied with a giggle, placing her hand over her mouth.

Jesse smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Just weird hearing it is all,” said Jesse, looking a little embarrassed.

Walt resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

 “I guess I’ll have a cheeseburger.” Jesse decided, closing over his menu. “Uh, that comes with fries, right?”

“It sure does.”

“Awesome.”

“Will that be all?” she asked and this time it really did seem like she was addressing Jesse alone.

 “Yeah, I’m good, yo,” Jesse answered before glancing over at him. When he didn’t reply, Jesse just smiled and nodded. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, her smile shining brightly. Walt however thought it looked horribly fake.

“Your food shouldn’t be too long. I’ll be back soon. My name’s Charlotte.” She pointed to her nametag. “If you need anything at all, you just let me know, okay?”

With that she finally left, and Walt let out a sigh as he leant back in his seat.

“Yo, you sure you’re okay?” Jesse asked him again, that look of concern back on his face.

“Yes Jesse, _I’m fine_.” If there was one thing that Walt hated, it was constantly being asked if he was feeling alright. The chemo really hadn’t been the only tortuous thing during his cancer treatment as he was bombarded by the question constantly by Skyler…

“Geez, sorry I asked,” Jesse muttered, folding his arms, now appearing more annoyed than dejected.

Walt grimaced. This really wasn’t what he had hoped for when he suggested they go grab something to eat. He was missing his family it was true, and something about their waitress irritated him but it was unfair to take his bad mood out on Jesse, especially given how happy the boy had been just that morning.

“How is it?” asked Walt after a minute or so of silence as he watched Jesse take a sip through the straw of his milkshake.

“Hmm, pretty good. You wanna try some?”

Walt was slightly taken back by the question, again his mind conjuring the image of some young lovestruck couple sharing a milkshake together.

“I’m fine with this,” Walt answered, somewhat embarrassed, taking a drink of his coffee as if to prove it.

“So, shopping go okay? Got everything you needed?”

He felt stupid asking as it was already pretty clear from Jesse coming to find him earlier that he had. Nevertheless, Walt felt the need to engage Jesse in conversation rather than letting any awkward silence play out.

“Alright, I guess,” Jesse replied with a shrug, “Got some new pants and t-shirts and stuff. How about you?”

“Me? Oh, just some books. Now that I have the time, I really should take advantage of it to read more.”

“Cool. Let me see,” said Jesse, holding out his arm.

Walt obliged, handing Jesse over the bag with his purchases.

Walt watched as Jesse read the blurbs on the backs of the novels he had gotten. He knew that Jesse wasn’t exactly a big reader, but occasionally Walt would catch him skimming through the few books he had brought with him from his old house. It seemed even for people like Jesse, TV could only sustain their interest for so long.

He wondered if perhaps he should have asked Jesse if had wanted to pick up a book for himself while they were in the bookstore. Although Walt had a sinking feeling that the boy would have probably chosen something like a comic book instead of an actual novel.

While Jesse looked vaguely intrigued with the novels, he didn’t give the science texts a second glance, either being not at all interested or believing that it was unlikely that he would actually understand anything written in them. However, when he got to the history book that Walt had bought on a whim – or rather because he simply couldn’t be bothered returning it to its proper section – he saw Jesse’s expression change ever so subtly, and to his surprise Jesse even opened it up.

While from the conversations they had had Jesse revealed he had no real interest in science, perhaps history was something that interested him.

Jesse instantly flipped to the back of book, his eyes quickly skimming down a list to which Walt assumed to be the index. After appearing to find what he was looking for, he then flicked forward towards the middle of the book.

Walt observed the pup silently as his eyes scanned over whatever was written there, Walt finding himself intensely curious about just what it was that Jesse had searched for.

Apparently, whatever was written down however, either wasn’t very detailed or not what Jesse had been hoping for up as when he closed the book, the expression on his face rested somewhere between amusement and disappointment.

“You okay?” Walt asked, it seeming to now be his turn to ask that frustrating question.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jesse answered, not looking at him he placed the books back in the bag.

“I guess, sometimes I just get curious about what history books and stuff say about....” He paused, lowering his voice. “Well, mutts.”

That made sense, thought Walt, unable to help but feel somewhat foolish for not making the obvious connection that of course that would be something Jesse would be interested in.

Again, from the fact that Jesse had gotten through it so quickly most likely indicated that not much had been written about mutt kind as was usually the case with most history texts. Cynically but not unrealistically, Walt thought it probably indicated that people simply didn’t care enough to want to know more about mutts, or in many instances to even acknowledge their existence.

“Nothing interesting then?” Walt asked out of a sense of politeness, already knowing the answer.

“Nah, just the usual stuff like genetic modification or it being a result of mutation and shit,” Jesse replied offhandedly as he took a sip of his milkshake, appearing unaffected by what he had read, or lack thereof. Walt could only imagine by this point in Jesse’s life, the younger man was probably used to getting next to no answers.

“Not that I guess it matters all that much for me anyway,” Jesse added, resting his chin on his upturned palm, “I mean, I may look like a mutt, or hell, probably am, but my parents are both normal, regular human beings, so no matter how mutts came about, I’m already like some genetic abnormality or whatever.”

Walt often forgot this aspect regarding Jesse, most likely because until Jesse came into his life he had never heard of such a thing before or thought of it as even being a possibility. Admittedly, looking back at it now, it seemed like a stupid assumption to make given that mutts other than having some obvious differences, were more or less genetically identical to their human counterparts. His mother or father being the descendant of a mutt was the most likely explanation for Jesse being what he was with it having skipped however many generations until Jesse became the unlucky recipient of receiving mutt-like traits when he was born.

And so, despite having ‘normal’ human parents, unless Jesse kept his ears and tails hidden, he would still always be viewed as a mutt by the rest of society. And not for the first time, Walt found himself just what kind of childhood Jesse had had having grown up with that knowledge, being seen as different by those you around you. Walt had experienced such discrimination second hand due to his son’s cerebral palsy. And while it wasn’t always the case – human beings could be horrendously too cruel – most people felt a basic sympathy towards Junior’s. For Jesse however, simply being born with those ears and a tail to boot, it was a completely different story. No sympathy, only scorn.

“That must be hard,” Walt mused sombrely, to which Jesse merely shrugged.

So much for trying to lighten the mood, thought Walt, his annoyance turning inwards towards himself.

“Hey, uh, maybe I’ll have a taste of that after all,” said Walt, gesturing to Jesse milkshake.

Jesse seemed surprised by this. “Oh, sure.”

He pushed it over to him and taking hold of the glass, Walt placed the straw in between his lips.

He took a small slurp.

“It’s sweet,” Walt observed dumbly.

Jesse laughed. “Well, yeah, what did you expect?”

In truth, Walt wasn’t an overly big fan of sweet things, but he had to admit the milkshake did taste kind of nice. He knew however when he went to take another drink of his coffee, the contrast would be striking for his taste buds. Even more so as he always took his coffee black.

He slid the glass back over to Jesse and within seconds, Jesse was taking another sip. There was something strange, but not at all unpleasant about Jesse drinking from the same straw he had just moments before. Although Walt supposed, it was more him having drank from Jesse’s straw.

Waiting for the food they made idle chitchat while both gazed out of the window watching the people outside walk by. Walt found he much preferred observing people from behind glass than actually being out and amongst the crowds. If he had to hazard a guess, he would say that Jesse probably felt the same way. 

“Here is your food,” announced the waitress – or Walt supposed it was Charlotte now – as she placed their food down in front of them.

“This looks delicious, yo” said, Jesse staring at it, appearing eager to dig right in, “Thanks.”

The young woman smiled. “Why, thank you.”

Walt had no idea what she was saying thank you for. It wasn’t like she had been the one who had cooked or prepared their food after all.

“I hope you enjoy it…uh....”

“It’s Jesse,” Jesse supplied.

She smiled. “Jesse, huh? Well, that is a-”

“Hey, waitress! Can I get a refill over here?” someone yelled, from the front of the restaurant.

Walt saw her face immediately sour at the interruption, turning around to where the voice had come from and scowling.

She sighed. “Well, I better go,” she said apologetically, which made little sense to Walt as it wasn’t like she should be standing there the entire time talking to them – or rather Jesse – as they ate their food.

“Enjoy your meal, Jesse. Again, just shout if you need anything.”

With that she hurried off and Walt couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so invisible, or rather the last time it had annoyed him quite so much as it did currently.

“Man, this is good!” declared Jesse, having already taken a bite into his burger. He looked pleased and just like when Jesse had showed up at the bookstore earlier, Walt felt his frustration ease up ever so slightly. And so, trying his best to put it aside, he made a start on his own food.

It wasn’t half bad, although nothing to write home about. Next time they returned to the city, Walt would suggest something a little more upmarket.

“It’s been soooo long since I’ve had a burger. I forgot how amazing they taste,” mumbled Jesse, his mouth full of food.

Walt smiled. Oh well, for now Jesse at least seemed content with this.

Nevertheless, despite Jesse’s obvious enjoyment, Walt couldn’t help but notice Jesse squirm every so often in his seat.

“Is everything alright?” Walt questioned, confused, Jesse glancing over at him, looking slightly embarrassed as if he had just been caught out doing something he shouldn’t have.

“Uh, yeah, totally. Everything’s fine.”

“Is your tail bothering?” Walt asked in a quieter voice, gaging from earlier reactions that Jesse got quite uncomfortable discussing such things were anyone could hear them. Although, again Walt doubted very much that anyone would be listening to their conversation.

Jesse gave a small nod, appearing somewhat surprised that Walt had guessed correctly.

“Yeah. I don’t know what’s up with it today,” Jesse groaned, tilting his head around as if to glare at it despite it being tucked away securely in his pants out of sight.

“Well, I suppose it could be because you’ve had it out constantly these past view weeks, you’re not used to it being shuffled down in your pants,” Walt supplied.

Jesse sniggered at that.  “Man, you make it sound so dirty. I mean anyone else hearing that would totally think you were talking about my dick.”

Walt rolled his eyes at Jesse’s juvenile response.

“But I know what you mean,” Jesse conceded, “Still, I can’t remember it ever moving about this much before. I mean, not since I was a little kid anyway. It’s weird.”

“How much control do you actually have over it?” Walt asked, just as with Jesse’s superior sense of smell, finding himself incredibly intrigued.

“I dunno. A little, I guess,” replied Jesse, rubbing at the back of his neck in a self-conscious manner, “Most of the time it’ll start moving on its own. I can stop it if I concentrate, but as soon as I stop paying attention or whatever it’ll just start moving again.”

“So, it’s an automatic response, then,” Walt mused, “Just like with your ears, it’ll react in accordance with your emotions.”

“I guess so.”

The pup shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, although Walt unsure if he was doing so because his tail was bothering him again or if he was simply feeling insecure about the topic of conversation, which was a possibility considering Jesse’s reaction back at the bookstore when he had awkwardly admitted to Walt that he had tracked him down using his sense of smell.

Furrowing his brow in concentration, a possible explanation for Jesse’s restless wagging tail, dawned on him.

He smiled to himself, strangely hoping that it was the case.

“Jesse, could it be that it’s, moving more because you-”

He never got the chance to finish his sentence however, as suddenly Charlotte appeared again.

“You enjoying your food there?”

Walt resisted the urge to groan in frustration.

“Oh, uh, yeah. It’s a great, thanks!” Jesse answered quickly, and Walt could tell that the boy was inwardly panicking that she had overheard their conversation. Thankfully, it appeared she hadn’t, given the lack of change in her demeanour.

Nevertheless, just as she had done at being interrupted earlier, Walt glowered at her for his own interruption. Of course, given that she had her back turned to him, it had no effect whatsoever.

“Well, that is good to hear,” she said cheerily as she leant her hands on the table, her body angled towards Jesse, “So, you live around here, Jesse?”

“Nah, I, uh…” Jesse glanced over at Walt briefly before looking back up at her.

“I live outside the city. We just drove here so I could get some new threads,” he said, lifting up the bag next to him.

“New threads, huh? I love shopping. I have great taste, you know. Not that’d you’d be able to tell what with me having to wear this old thing,” she said, making an unpleasant face as she lifted up the sides of her uniform.

Jesse shrugged and smiled, obviously more relaxed in the knowledge that she hadn’t overheard what they were discussing. “I dunno, I don’t think it looks bad.”

“Aww, well, aren’t you, sweet,” she giggled, wrapping his finger around a strand of her hair, “So, do you come here often? To the city I mean.”

“Uh, not so much anymore. This is my first time here in forever,” answered Jesse before adding with a small laugh, “It’s weird, I don’t like miss it as much as I thought I would.”

 “Aww, but the city is the place to be, _sweetheart_ ,” she said, pressing even closer to Jesse, so much so that just a few more inches and they’d be touching.

Whether due to this or from the usage of the word ‘sweetheart’, all of a sudden Walt felt something snap inside of him.

“Coffee!” he barked, much louder than he had intended, enough so that this time even Jesse looked startled.

Walt wouldn’t have been surprised if a few other people in the diner had turned around in alarm as well, although he didn’t look around to check.

Taking a deep breath, in a much quieter voice, he said, “I would like a refill of coffee.”

She was glaring at him now, evidently furious at him for interrupting her flirtatious advances towards Jesse and no doubt at being suddenly yelled at as well.

“Also, another milkshake for him,” Walt added coolly, noticing that Jesse had finished what was in his glass.

“Hey, uh…” Jesse began, but both he and waitress ignored him, as she continued to glare at Walt and he wondered if she was perhaps expecting an embarrassed apology on his part. If that was the case, she would be solely disappointed.

“Coming right up,” she finally replied through gritted teeth before practically storming off.

Walt smirked, unable to stop from feeling somewhat victorious.

“Wow, you really do not like her, do you?” stated Jesse, still seeming shocked at Walt’s outburst. “Seriously, why, yo? It’s not like she’s like mixed up our orders or has been rude to us or anything,”

Walt scoffed at that. “She’s been plenty rude, Jesse. Her job is to _serve_ customers, not stand around and get their life stories and _flirt_ with them all day,” he lectured.

After a moment of consideration, a small smile appeared Jesse’s face. “Why? You jealous?” he asked teasingly, and Walt felt his body still.

“What?” he questioned, panicking about what possible reason Jesse thought he would be jealous.

“Cause she’s paying attention to me and not you.”

Walt relaxed. “Oh…No. Of course not,” he replied before somewhat indignantly adding, “Don’t be ridiculous. She’s…She’s far too _young_ for me.”

Jesse shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean as long as it ain’t with a kid or nothin’ and you really like the person, I don’t think age differences are that big a deal.”

Walt snorted. “Well, I can assure you, me being jealous of her flirting with you over me is not the reason for my frustration with her.”

“Then why?” asked Jesse, seeming genuinely interested.

“Well, because…” Walt couldn’t really explain why. All that he was really aware of was that her inappropriate behaviour towards Jesse bothered him greatly; her acting so familiar with Jesse when she didn’t even know him.

Jesse was looking at him, waiting expectantly for an answer but surely there was no way Walt could justify such a thing. Especially since he didn’t even understand it himself.

And so desperately trying to come up with some sort of explanation, something suddenly clicked.

“Skyler!” he ended up blurting out a minute or so later.

“My problem with her is that she reminds me of Skyler,” he relayed with a put-upon sigh.

“Your ex-wife?” Jesse asked in surprise, “Why? Are they alike or something?”

“What? No. Of course not!” Walt retorted, feeling defensive on Skyler’s behalf at any possibility of comparison, “I mean, they have the same hair colour in a similar style, but other than that…”

Inwardly Walt cursed, instantly regretting bringing it up. Jesse, meanwhile was looking at him with such curiosity that he felt he that he had to at least offer up something more concrete.

He sighed. “When I met Skyler for the first time, she was working as a waitress at a restaurant. It was nearby the lab I worked at the time and more often than not, I would go there during my lunchbreak or even just to grab dinner before going home for the night. At first, I went there because of the convenience and proximity to the lab. And well, the food was actually pretty good. But eventually the reason I kept on going was because Skyler worked there.”

“She was so beautiful,” admitted Walt with a smile, swiftly overcome with a wave of nostalgia, “Hard-working as well. But when the place wasn’t busy, and she had some time to herself, she would do these crossword puzzles. Honestly, I could have sat there all day just watching her do them.”

“Eventually after a month or so, I worked up the courage to finally ask her out. But of course, I couldn’t just walk up to her and ask directly. I needed a way to ease into it. And so, on the day I was planning on asking her, I chose to go at a time when I knew the restaurant wouldn’t be too busy after picking up a copy of the same newspaper she did the crossword puzzles in.”

“When she came to take away my plates after I’d finished eating, I asked her if she knew the answer to one of the questions. She replied that she was actually in the middle of doing the crossword herself and offered to help me out provided I gave her the answer to one of the questions she was struggling with.”

“Wow, that’s totally a smooth move, yo!” Jesse laughed before placing a fry in his mouth.

 “It really was, if I do so myself,” Walt agreed smugly.

“When she came to hand me my bill, Skyler brought her copy of the paper with her. We went over our answers and what questions we were struggling with. I have to admit, at the time it felt almost a bit like school children comparing their homework before handing it into the teacher to be marked”, Walt chuckled, perhaps with a bit more amusement than what would be expected given that until recently he had been a teacher himself, “Anyway, we had a good laugh as we did it and after we’d both finished, we got to talking and I finally asked her if she would allow me to take her out to dinner that night.”

“I’m guessing she said yes, right?” asked Jesse, who had been listening to Walt’s story intently.  

Walt nodded. “She did. Well, at least on the condition we go to dinner anywhere other than the place she worked.”

Jesse grinned. “Awesome. Take her somewhere nice?”

“I did as a matter of fact. I really wanted to impress her so the restaurant I took her too was incredibly fancy. Although it did cost me the equivalent of an entire month’s salary when I was already struggling to pay rent, just to cover the cost of the meal alone,” Walt regaled, remembering trying to keep his face at neutral as possible in front of Skyler when he saw the price on the bill, “But given that I ended up marrying her, I have no complaints about that.”

“Man, sounds like a nice memory,” said Jesse, sounding almost wistful.

Walt nodded. It really was. Nevertheless, there would always be an underlying level of sadness to the memory given that they were now both divorced and Walt had inevitably broken Skyler’s trust. In the end, as pleasant as the recollection was, it also served as memory of everything that he had lost.

“Shit. I’m really sorry,” said Jesse, sounding apologetic.

“Why are you sorry?” Walt asked, trying to keep the edge out of his voice, absolutely hating the thought of anyone pitying him.

“Cause, if I hadn’t chosen this place to eat, you wouldn’t have had to see that waitress who reminded you of all that stuff,” Jesse explained guilty.

“Jesse, it’s fine. You…You didn’t know,” Walt tried to reassure. Also, lest they had gone to some fast food place, there was a high chance that anywhere they went to they would have a waitress serving them, blonde hair or no unless they got a waiter instead.

While what Walt said had been true and that he had met Skyler and asked her out when she had been working as a waitress, it wasn’t the main source of the frustration he was experiencing. No, their waitress’s behaviour annoyed him far more than any comparison or memory. But to tell Jesse otherwise would only reveal that…Well, he wasn’t quite sure what.

And maybe that was the real problem.

“Oh, she coming back with our drinks,” announced Jesse, catching sight of her.

Walt frowned. A part of him had hoped that after his little outburst, he had scared her off and someone else – preferably someone who didn’t talk or flirt quite so much – would take over waiting on them.

Jesse turned back to him and with a strangely resigned expression, said “Hey, don’t worry, I’ll make sure she doesn’t bother you anymore.”

But before Walt had gotten the chance to question Jesse just what he meant by that, she was standing next to the table.

“Here’s your coffee, _sir_ ,” she said icily, placing the cup down on the table in front of Walt with such force that some of the coffee spilled over the edges and onto the table.

Unsurprisingly, she didn’t apologise or even rush to wipe it away, leading Walt to believe that the action was likely intentional.

Her expression changed however as she turned to place the milkshake down in front of Jesse and Walt saw her quickly plaster a smile on her face as she turned to address him.

“Here you-”

Her smile didn’t last long however a she suddenly let out a loud shocked cry.

Confused by the reaction, Walt immediately turned his attention to Jesse, only to find himself surprised as well.

While just minutes ago, Jesse had been obviously panicked at her overhearing their conversation about him being a mutt, Jesse had taken off his hat, his ears now clearly visible, the truth of what he was undeniable.

Walt’s eyes widened. “Jesse…”

“You…You’re a mutt!” Charlotte shrieked, any of pleasantness or the flirtatious edge to her voice when speaking to Jesse earlier having completely vanished.

Walt couldn’t help but wince, knowing that he himself had had a similar reaction the first time he had seen Jesse’s ears and realised what the young man who had forced himself into his house really was.

“Ah, yeah, I am. Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you or nothing’,” Jesse apologised, “It’s just kinda hot in here, so figured I’d take this thing off for a bit.”

He held up his beanie.

“Oh. I…” She immediately glanced away as if Jesse was something that shouldn’t be looked at, her eyes darting around the diner as if desperately looking for someone to come save her, her body language clearly broadcasting that she wanted to be anywhere else than where she currently stood.

“Is that my milkshake?” Jesse asked, the glass still in her hand.

Just as some of Walt’s coffee had spilled over the side of the cup, it was the same case with the milkshake, no doubt a result of Charlotte accidentally jolting it when she had cried out in shock.

“Oh, uh, yes...”

Taking a single step forward, her arm shaking slightly, she stretched it out awkwardly and placed the glass down on the very edge of the table, seemingly terrified of making any physical contact with Jesse almost as if he had instantaneously come down with some deadly disease that was highly contagious.

The more likely explanation however, Walt thought, was the worry that Jesse would suddenly lash out and try to hurt her.

Her demeanour to Jesse was in complete contrast to her earlier behaviour were she had obviously wanted to get as close to him as possible. And while it was evident that she now feared Jesse, Walt could also clearly see the disgust written on her face.

He felt anger surge through him at what he was witnessing. Jesse was continuing to be polite with absolute no indication that he would try and harm her, but in the space of just a few seconds, in her eyes, Jesse had seemingly morphed into some awful, dangerous and unpredictable creature that one should avoid at all costs. If she had to be scared of someone, surely it made more sense for that person to be him given that he was the one who had yelled at her earlier.

He wanted to shout at her again, but no words left his lips. While he knew what Jesse was and had absolutely no problem with it, maybe he too was in shock. After all, from the way Jesse had spoken about it, as well as when they had first arrived in the city were he had been acting so insecure and paranoid from his tail being out on show, for Jesse to then willingly reveal what he was seemed almost unthinkable…

Tentatively, Jesse reached over and lifted the glass towards him. Despite the slow movement being for Charlotte’s benefit, it didn’t stop her from taking a frightened step back.

Walt glared at her – not that she noticed – before glancing back over at Jesse.

“Thanks,” said Jesse. And while he flashed her what Walt imagined was supposed to be an appreciative smile, he could clearly see the pain that lay beneath it. He also observed Jesse’s ears drooping slightly. Although he doubted anyone else would have really noticed, it only having been through living with Jesse for the past six weeks that he had become attuned to his emotions from the movement of both his ears and tail.

Walt wondered if perhaps the only reason they weren’t pressed flat against his head was because he was making a conscious effort to hold them up, much liked earlier when Jesse had explained that he had to concentrate to stop his tail from moving.

“Uh, well, If-If that’s…” But before she even finished the sentence, she quickly hurried off.

Walt thought it was unlikely that she would be back to serve them. And while all along it’s what he had wanted, the knowledge that she wouldn’t return gave him little comfort. Instead, he felt guilt, knowing that what Jesse had just done had been solely for his benefit in spite of the hurt it would inevitably cause him.

Jesse let out a sigh, and Walt watched silently as he took a drink out of his milkshake.

“Oh, thanks for getting me another one of these,” Jesse thanked casually as if the entire exchange hadn’t just happened, “These are like _so_ good.”

Walt highly doubted that even the sweet taste of the beverage would make up for the humiliation and sadness Jesse was no doubt feeling.

“Jesse. You… didn’t need to do that,” Walt said weakly, a minute or so later, struggling to find the right words to say, “Not…Not on my behalf anyway.”

“It’s cool, yo. She was bothering you, and I figured she’d probably freak out a bit and back off a little once she realised what I am,” Jesse replied nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders, “Besides, I’m the reason we came here, and since you’re the one paying for the food and stuff, it’s only fair that I do something, right? Although, I guess I left it a little late since we’re like mostly finished our food already. So, uh, sorry about that,” he apologised with an awkward laugh.

Walt couldn’t take Jesse apologising and as the guilt continued to gnaw at him, he tried to reassure himself that he shouldn’t feel this way, reminding himself that it wasn’t like he had asked Jesse to do anything to get rid of her. After all, it he hadn’t told or even forced Jesse to take off his hat to and reveal his ears. The younger man had done it purely on his own accord.

Nevertheless, it did nothing to change the fact that Jesse had done it on his behalf. Had _felt_ like he _had_ too. And all for a memory that Walt hadn’t even recollected until pushed for a reason to rationalise his frustration to Jesse; a reason that wouldn’t lead to embarrassment on his part.

“Hey, are you…” Jesse began to ask before quickly trailing off, no doubt remembering Walt’s earlier reactions at being questioned if he was okay.

“If you knew she would act that way when she saw what you are, why did you even bother flirting back with her before?” Walt asked in a much harsher tone than he had intended as he tried to control both the anger he felt towards her as well as himself.

The boy looked momentarily taken aback. “I didn’t exactly think she would find that out, you know?” Jesse retorted defensively, “Besides, it wasn’t like I was taking her flirting serious or anything, alright?”

They remained silent as Jesse fidgeted with his straw before continuing.

“It’s just… I dunno. I guess it’s just nice to feel normal every once in a while,” said Jesse, suddenly sounding so insecure and sad that Walt was filled with the ever-familiar urge to reach out and pet his head. But considering they were in public as well as the source of Jesse’s upset, Walt felt that it was probably inappropriate.

In the end, Jesse had just wanted a sense of normality and Walt had just gone and ruined that all because he experienced a petty sense of jealousy that he couldn’t even understand or explain to himself, let alone to Jesse.

Jesse sighed, his ears now flat against his head. “Look, I know it’s stupid, okay?”

“It’s not stupid at all, Jesse,” Walt replied, sympathetically, “I…I’m just sorry she reacted that way when she found out.”

“It’s fine. Like, I said I expected it. And it ain’t like I’m not used to that sorta response anyway.”

He recalled Jesse saying something similar after the unpleasant encounter he had with Hank, with Walt thinking how sad it was that such an experience was something that a person needed to get used to in their everyday life.

“Though, I guess staying in your cabin these past six weeks, it wasn’t something I really had to worry about,” Jesse mused, “It’s been forever – like not since my aunt died – that I’ve lived anywhere I felt relaxed enough not to feel the need to hide my ears or tail or whatever. I mean, pretty much most people who worked in the warehouse for the Salamanca’s knew what I was, but not wearing a beanie or having my tail visible would have made things a hell of a lot worse, like walking around with some huge target painted on my back, you know?”

“Not having to do that anymore is pretty awesome,” he said, shooting Walt an appreciative smile, “I guess that should be enough for me.”

Walt felt his heart ache at Jesse’s admission. “It’s not wrong to want more,” Walt replied, unsure if he was quite talking to Jesse or himself at this point. Nevertheless, he was at least thankful that he could provide even a small sense comfort to the younger man.

“Nah, I know that I’ll like never get to have a…” Jesse abruptly stopped, shaking his head, “Plus, as well as you, I have Kaylee and Mike. They don’t seem to mind that I’m a mutt either.”

Walt immediately pressed down a twinge of jealous, remembering what his last occurrence of the emotion had brought about. And as much as it made him feel special in some bizarre way, Jesse deserved to have other people in his life who accepted him for who he was that weren’t just him.

“They don’t. You even have a job now.”

Walt noticed Jesse’s ears lift ever so slightly, which was indeed a welcome sight. However, it proved to be short-lived as they quickly started to sink again.

“What’s wrong?” Walt urged gently.

Jesse frowned. “I don’t know if me taking this job is really the right thing to do.”

“What are you talking about?” Walt asked, utterly baffled, “Of course it is. I mean you were so excited about it yesterday and considering what your last job was...”

 “I know that! It’s just…” the boy sighed. “Mike said I could only work at his store if I don’t cover up my ears and tail. That I…That I don’t hide what I am.”

“So, he wants people to know that you’re a…well, what you are?” questioned Walt, trying his hardest to keep the surprise out of his voice, knowing that most people wouldn’t employ a mutt, let alone want them to have their ears and tail on show for every customer who walked through the door to see.

Jesse gave a small nod, his eyes downcast. “Yeah, I don’t get it either. It makes like no logical sense at all, right? I mean, Mike seems like sound guy but maybe he’s got that like Alzheimer’s or whatever and it’s totally messing with brain.”

“You said in your last job that you didn’t feel comfortable or safe enough to show your ears or tail. Now that it’s no longer something that you’ll have to worry about surely, that’s a good thing isn’t it?” Walt pointed out.

“It ain’t a matter of feeling safe or not,” Jesse replied, moving on from fiddling with his straw to fidget with the cutlery in front of him, “It’s the fact that just like our waitress, people will freak the hell out when they realise that the guy serving them is a mutt.”

“Not everyone will react the same way she did,” Walt tried to reassure, “Plus, people are a lot more accepting these days.”

“Yeah. Totally,” Jesse snorted disbelievingly, “Try telling that to your dick brother-in-law.”

Walt winced. Hank definitely didn’t work as an example of acceptance.

“People freaking out doesn’t bother me. Like I said, I’m used to it. It’s just…what the hell will me working at the store do to Mike’s business? I mean, most people ain’t gonna wanna shop at a store they know a mutt works in. The only reason the people I delivered and sold to before didn’t give a shit about me being a mutt was because all they cared about was making some cheddar or getting their next fix. That’s pretty different from someone going into a store and buying some groceries,” Jesse explained, despairingly, as he shoved his beanie back on over his head, his ears hidden once again.

“Look. I’ve never met the man, but I’m sure that this…Mike wouldn’t have offered you the job if as well as thinking you’d be more than capable, that it would cause problems for his business. And while, yes, I’m sure his customers will probably be surprised at first, once they actually get to know you, what you are won’t matter to them.”

“Yeah, but that’s only if they don’t get one look at me and decide to go shop somewhere else,” Jesse huffed, his defeatist attitude reminding Walt very much of himself before his cancer diagnosis; before he had actually chosen to take charge of his life and to succeed and provide for his family at any cost.

“Jesse, this is a real opportunity for you. You can’t just back away now,” Walt scolded lightly.

“Even if it costs Mike his business?”

“You don’t know that it will. That’s why you have to at least take the chance. Plus, I’m sure that you’ll find there are more people out there just like Mike and his Granddaughter than you think there are.”

“And you as well,” added Jesse, a small smile on his lips.

Walt nodded and smiled in turn. “Yes, me as well.”

“Thanks. I guess I’ll give it a shot. Plus, I gotta pay you back somehow, right? And Saul will totally have his own freak-out if I don’t pay him back soon for patching up my ribs.”

Walt chuckled. “Exactly.”

“And while you may feel…well, self-conscious at first, I do think you look a lot better with that thing off than on,” Walt admitted honestly, pointing to Jesse’s beanie.

Jesse laughed at that. “Man, I bet you were totally the kind of teacher who ragged on all his students wearing hats in your classroom and made them take them off.”

“Of course. Hats are for outdoors after all,” Walt stated staunchly, something he had repeated many times to his students over the years.

This seemed to make Jesse laugh even harder, but Walt didn’t mind, , it simply being nice just to see Jesse smiling again.

“I guess it does feel kind of better on my ears with it off,” said Jesse in reference to his beanie, “But you get used to it, you know?”

Jesse didn’t wear his hat much in the cabin at all, unless it was a particularly chilly day, or he forgot to take it off when coming back inside. Between Spring coming up and working in Mike’s store, maybe it was something Jesse wouldn’t need to wear anymore at all. It would be nice. He hadn’t been lying when he said Jesse looked better without it after all.

They received their bill a short time later, and just as Walt suspected, it was a completely different waitress than the one before who brought them it. The woman appeared to be much closer in age to Walt, and just as Charlotte’s eyes had been entirely focused on Jesse since she had started waiting on them, so was this woman’s. Although, rather than the obvious attraction that had been in Charlotte’s eyes, hers seemed to hold only disdain and disgust.  Slamming their bill down on the table, she didn’t bother to ask them if they wanted to order dessert or perhaps something else to drink, a clear indication that she, or Walt supposed the diner, wanted them to leave their fine establishment as soon as possible.

Walt found his anger return. Not only because of her demeanour but because this person was completely undermining his argument to Jesse that there were other people out there who would be accepting of him. As such, he was tempted to stick around even longer and order some sort of dessert just to spite them. However, as gratifying as it would have been, he quickly decided against it, there being the chance that they would outright ask them to leave, something which Walt doubted would be particularly good for Jesse’s self-esteem.

Walt picked up the bill and glowered at the woman. “Can you give us a moment?”

“Fine. I’ll be right back,” she scoffed, turning and walking away.

“Guess we should head back now, huh?” said Jesse, just like before, seeming to take the whole thing in stride.

Walt nodded in agreement and took out his wallet to pay the cheque while Jesse left ahead of him to outside, wanting to grab a quick smoke before they walked back to the car.

Still, deeply unsatisfied with what had occurred, to vent his frustration, Walt chose not to leave a tip, smirking to himself as he thought about how indignant they would no doubt be despite their rude behaviour towards he and Jesse.

To his surprise, once he got outside Jesse shot him an amused grin.

“What?” Walt asked, confused.

“Nothing. I was just thinking, it’s too bad we didn’t get that other waitress instead, otherwise you could have totally flirted with her without feeling bad about the who age thing, yo,” Jesse laughed, “I mean, if she didn’t spend the whole time looking like someone had taken a dump on the table and smiled a little, I bet she would have been pretty hot.”

Walt rolled his eyes. “Come on.”

Continuing to snigger, Jesse flicked his cigarette butt away and followed after Walt.

On the drive home, Walt allowed Jesse control of the radio. His choice of music of course had been horrible, but after the whole thing at the diner, Walt bared with it.

“Well, home sweet home, I suppose,” said Walt, opening the door of the cabin, finding the juxtaposition of the buzzling city to the eerie quietness of the wilderness surrounding the cabin somewhat jarring.

Once again, it would be just him and Jesse; no one else. And strangely, Walt found himself alright with it.

It was at this that something suddenly struck Walt; the reason why he had experienced that seemingly inexplicable and irrational jealously back at the diner. For the past six weeks it had just been him – excluding that incredibly uncomfortable visit from Hank –and Jesse. As a result, he wasn’t used to seeing Jesse interacting with anyone else. This coupled with that waitress’s overfamiliarity towards Jesse while being completely ignored himself…well, it was no wonder he had felt rather out of sorts about the whole thing.

However, given that he was highly unlikely that they would go back there – not that they would be welcome back of course – it wasn’t something he would have to deal with again.

He chuckled to himself, relieved that he had figured it out and that there was no deeper meaning attached to it. Although, just exactly what that would have been, he was unsure.

“What are you smiling about?” asked Jesse, kicking off his shoes to the side, a bad habit that Walt hadn’t been able to rid the boy of no matter how much he scolded him.

“Nothing. It was just…well, nice to get out is all,” Walt replied as he removed his coat.

Jesse grinned. “Right? We should totally do it again sometime.”

“And, uh, hopefully you won’t have to pay for all my shit again,” Jesse added, somewhat self-consciously.

“It’s fine, Jesse,” Walt assured once again, positive that it would be annoying if it wasn’t quite so endearing.

Jesse pulled his beanie off with a shake of his head. “Still, I feel like I-”

Jesse didn’t get the chance to finish however, startled by Walt’s hand suddenly reaching out resting on top of his head.

“There, I bet that feels better, doesn’t it?” Walt said gently, smiling softly as his fingers brushed lightly against Jesse’s hair and ears.

Yes. This was the way it should be. How Jesse should look.

Jesse cheeks flushed, seeming slightly taken aback before replying, a small smile on his face, with, “Yeah, it does...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has been such a slowburn. I promise they'll get together eventually. As usual, they both just have a lot of issues to sort out and I fail at making things simple. ^^;;
> 
> Thanks to everyone who is still reading this! It's much appreciated.


	14. Chapter 14

For the first time in a long time, perhaps even since he was a child, Jesse was actually feeling optimistic about life. After all, he had just gotten a job that didn’t require him to run for miles to deliver illicit substances to shady people or to have to break into places and steal stuff. Not to mention he now had somewhere to live. Or well, at least until he earned enough money to rent his own place. But for the moment, Walt’s cabin was his home, and it sure as hell beat sleeping on some lumpy old mattress on the floor of a decrepit warehouse, freezing his tail off all winter.

He had helped Walt chop up some firewood that morning and now they both sat on the sofa – which also doubled as Jesse’s bed – Walt reading one of the books he had picked up the day before and Jesse flicking through the channels on TV as the fire roared beside them. It felt ridiculously cosy, so much so that Jesse rather wanted to curl up and fall asleep. To do so however, he would have had to rest his head a little on Walt’s lap which he doubted the older man would appreciate very much. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop the image from appearing in Jesse’s mind, along with imagining the sensation of Walt’s fingers brushing lightly against his ears as he continued reading his book.

Blushing, Jesse glanced over at Walt who thankfully appeared to be completely engrossed in the novel he was reading. Quickly dismissing the thought, Jesse sat up straighter and finally settled on a channel to watch. Usually Walt would berate him if he channel-surfed for too long, demanding either that Jesse just pick something to watch, or grabbing the remote from him altogether.

While it had pissed Jesse off at first, occasionally he would do it just to get a rise out of the older man, finding it amusing. Thankfully however, Walt never seemed to stay frustrated with him for too long. And what had once been anger now seemed to be more exasperation than anything else.

As the commercials started airing, interrupting the show Jesse had just started to watch, he thought back to the previous day when he had visited the city after a month and a half of being away from it. It had been nice, and he enjoyed getting to spend time with Walt out with the confines of the small cabin. But what struck Jesse was the fact that he hadn’t missed the city nearly as much as he thought he would. It was especially surprising given that when he hadn’t been working as a runner or sleeping, he practically spent all his free time there. It wasn’t like he’d exactly had the cash to do much but being there was definitely better than hanging around the warehouse surrounded by guys would have likely beat the living shit out of him if they hadn’t been ordered by their boss not to. Plus, the small TV he had manged to snag which had been pretty much been his only source of entertainment there had the crappiest reception in the world meaning half the time he had to go without.

His friends lived around the outskirts of the city and occasionally he would hang out at their places as well, although, usually he only went when he was able to hook them up with something.

He always remembered his mom going on about how when you visited someone, it was considered polite to bring a gift or whatever. Jesse’s gifts had been meth or weed, things he highly doubted were the kind of gifts his mom had in mind when she had told him that.

While his friends never explicitly turned him away, whenever he showed up without something, he always felt awkward, especially if no one else had anything on them.

He had considered briefly trying to get in touch with Badger, Pete or Combo during his visit, but for whatever reason he couldn’t quite bring himself to. Furthermore, his cell phone had got busted the night the DEA raided the warehouse and having not exactly memorised their numbers, he had no way to contact them, other than simply showing up at their places, hoping they’d be around. An additional reason was that he had come to the city with Walt, not to catch-up with his old friends, as cool as that might have been. Plus, again, given that he wasn’t carrying anything, he wasn’t sure how much they’d actually care about seeing him. And so, he decided just to leave it.

It had only taken Jesse several minutes walking down the busy streets to realise just how used to the quiet life of the small cabin that rested in the middle of nowhere he had gotten; of the life that consisted solely of Walt and himself. So much so that he actually felt uncomfortable and out of place in the hustle and bustle of the city; an environment that by all accounts he should have been far more familiar with. At first, he had merely assumed it was because his tail was on show, something he wasn’t used to when walking about in the open. And so, he had rushed off to buy some new clothes to quickly change into, hoping that with his tail hidden from view along with his ears, that he would feel more normal and not quite so on edge.

Once he had bought some new threads and was back outside again however, he discovered it didn’t really do much to ease his discomfort.

Sighing in frustration, Jesse gazed down at his watch to see that he still had quite a bit of time before he was supposed to meet back up with Walt, and so with no real destination in mind he started walking, unsure exactly what do with himself. He considered grabbing a hotdog or maybe even a taco at some of the places he frequented when he hung out in the city, before remembering that the change in his pocket from the clothes he had just bought wasn’t really his. It was Walt’s. And given that he already owed the guy a lot, he figured that it’d be kind of crappy just to spend the rest.

Jesse had chuckled to himself at that. A month and a half ago, he could have stolen Walt’s wallet and not have given much of a shit. Now he felt guilty keeping what would now amount to Walt as small change considering the amount of cash he would have made cooking all that meth.

The Crystal Palace was nearby, and Wendy would surely be working. But again, with no money, it wasn’t really a feasible option. There was the chance however that Wendy would take pity on him and give him a ‘freebie’, as despite being a mutt, Jesse believed that the woman had a sort of soft spot for him. Not that there was much soft about Wendy herself, but Wendy being what she was, was looked down by a lot of people, especially the people who went to her to get their jollies; as if they were so fucking high and mighty. Jesse meanwhile never had, which he imagined a small part came down to the fact that people would look down on him even more. He supposed in that way, when it came to wider society, they were kindred spirits almost.

Still, even if Wendy did take pity on him and offered him a freebie, Jesse felt that he would be reluctant to accept it, although he couldn’t quite exactly say why. It wasn’t like he would be cheating on anyone or anything if he did…

And so, as Jesse continued walking idly down the street, just as he had decided against seeking out his friends, he decided to give going to the Crystal Palace a miss.

Of course, seeking out and accidently running into them – or at least one of them – were completely different things.

“Yo, Jesse! Hey Jesse!”

Jesse stilled, his ears instantly lifting under his beanie as he heard someone yelling out his name.

Brow furrowed, he had turned around to see an absurdly tall guy in some weird-ass costume hurrying towards him. Jesse’s initial instincts told him to run away, but after a moment or so he realised that the guy in the weird-ass costume was in fact his friend.

“Badger, is that you?” Jesse found himself questioning, despite Badger now being close enough to identify that it was in fact him. Even if not Jesse would have been able to tell it was his friend due to Badger’s unique scent thanks to Jesse’s own powerful sense of smell.

“Uh, what in the hell are you wearing?” Jesse asked confused as he looked his friend up and down.

“And what the hell is that?” he added, pointing to what Badger was holding.

 The guy looked seriously ridiculous.

“Oh, I’m supposed to be like a dollar bill. I work for that bank over there,” Badger explained, signally to across the street, “Basically, my job is to wave this sign about.”

The sign was in the shape of an arrow which had the bank’s name written across it in large font.

“Why? You seriously look so lame.”

Badger laughed at that. “I know, right? But it’s to like lure customers in and get them to join or whatever.”

While Jesse didn’t have a bank account himself for various reasons, he doubted some person in a costume would compel him to sign up or switch banks or whatever. In fact, he was pretty seeing some dude dressed like that coming towards him would make him want to do the exact opposite.

“Here, let me show you. Check out these moves, yo!” Badger exclaimed before proceeding to spin the sign around above his head before then lowering it and lifting his leg up in an attempt to swirl it underneath. But after he almost overbalanced, the sign plopped onto ground, Jesse’s eyes following it.

 “Uh…”

“It’s kind of a work in progress,” Badger admitted, undeterred at he picked it up, “But forget about that! Where the hell have you been, man?! None of us has seen you in like over a month!”

“Oh, uh, I’ve just been around, you know? I hurt my ribs, so I’ve been laying low until they healed,” Jesse replied as he rubbed at his neck, feeling secretly pleased that his friends had actually noticed that he hadn’t been around.

“We heard about the raid on the Salamanca’s warehouse and figured the cops must’ve picked you up too,” said Badger lowering his voice. However, given how loud Badger usually spoke, it didn’t exactly count for much. Not that Jesse believed that anyone would actually be listening to their conversation.

“Nah, I was there but I managed to get away in time before the cops saw me.”

“Sweet! Right on!” yelled Badger holding out his fist.

With a smile, Jesse fist bumped him back.

“So, what’s happening now? You still staying there? At the warehouse?”

Jesse shook his head. “I ain’t been back in case the cops are still like surveilling the place or whatever.”

By this point Jesse doubted that they still would be and that it would be safe enough for him to return. However, while he still had some of his stuff there, it was nothing important. Not worth going back there for anyway. Plus, he would be living with Walt for the foreseeable future, which while having only stayed at the cabin for six weeks, still felt like way more of a home to Jesse than the warehouse ever had.

“It totally blows,” sighed Badger, “I know you lost your job which sucks but seriously that blue meth the Salamanca’s dealt in was the shit.”

“Yeah, it was,” Jesse agreed, having smoked it several times himself.

“Like, I’d kill for another bump of that stuff. Everything else like pales in comparison, you know? But as far as anyone knows, there’s none left on the street. I mean there’s a rumour going around that some guy has been stockpiling it, but from what I’ve heard, he’s been selling it for like five times its original price. There’s no way I’d be able to get together that much cash before someone buys out the rest of his stash!” Badger bemoaned miserably.

“Oh, uh, that sucks man,” Jesse replied, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the topic of conversation.

“Hey, you didn’t happen to take some of it with you when you left the warehouse did you? I mean before the cops took all of it,” Badger asked hopefully.

“I was kinda more focused on the whole getting the hell out there as fast as I could and not getting shot by them thing,” Jesse replied bluntly.

Badger’s question wasn’t completely inane. After all, Jesse knew plenty of junkies who would have risked going back and getting caught by the cops just to get one more bump. Even more so since it was the ‘Blue Sky’ meth they were talking about.

Badger sighed in disappointment. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Plus, you’d totally have smoked it all by now anyway, right? Hey, you have anything else on you? Could totally go for a spliff right now.”

“Sorry man,” answered Jesse and suddenly it had occurred to him that since living with Walt he hadn’t used even once. Not that there was any place to get something in the middle of nowhere. He supposed that the painkillers that Saul had prescribed to deal with his rib injuries had helped somewhat with any withdrawal he went through, but it was indeed the longest he had been sober since he had started using in his teens.

“I heard that the cops didn’t actually catch the cook; that like the guy who made that shit got away and is still out there somewhere. But I dunno, I don’t really buy it. I mean if he was, he would have joined with another crew or whatever by now and the stuff would be back on the streets, right? Like his meth was _that_ good. Seriously, it’d be a crime against humanity not to keep cooking it.”

Jesse had thought the exact same as well and had asked Walt the day after the whole hitting him with his car and Jesse blackmailing him incident if he still intended on continuing to cook. Of course, given that at that point Walt still hated his guts, the man had looked at Jesse as if he was an utter idiot.

“Well, given that all my employers are in police custody, soon to be sent to prison, no, I do not plan on continuing to cook,” Walt had answered derisively.

Jesse had rolled his eyes, pointing out that there were other families and crews out there than the Salamanca’s who dealt in meth – or who would at least be strongly eager to move in on and take over the Salamanca’s territory – and that they’d totally pay mad stacks for Walt’s stuff.

“My days of cooking meth are over. I only did it to pay my medical bills and earn enough money to provide for my family. And I’ve done that, so…”

“But the shit you cook is incredible, yo!” Jesse had cried incredulously, “It’d be a total waste not to keep cooking!”

Walt had scoffed at that. “As if I care about the opinion of some pathetic junkie mutt.”

Jesse glared at him in return, giving him the finger. “Hey, screw you, bitch!”

Walt had shouted something that Jesse couldn’t quite remember and stormed back into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him. Jesse did however recall that the loudness of the door banging against its hinges had hurt his ears.

Again, it was hard to believe that that had happened only a month and a half ago. It was also difficult imagining Walt saying those words to him now; calling him either a ‘pathetic junkie’ or a ‘mutt’, Walt having replaced the latter with ‘pup’ much to Jesse’s ongoing embarrassment.

Still, Jesse found it hard not to blush or at least smile whenever Walt did so.

“Hey, you’ll know who the cook is, right? I mean you must’ve saw him what with you staying in that warehouse and all!” Badger declared, catching Jesse completely off guard.

“Uh, well…”

“Oh man, I bet you could totally track him down with your super mutt smelling powers! Maybe we could even convince him to cook for us! How sweet would that be!?” Badger shouted excitedly, his arms shooting up into the air.

Jesse glanced around. A few people had stopped and were openly staring at them. Jesse momentarily panicked before realising that with his ears and tail out of sight, they had no idea he was a mutt, and that the one who was attracting the attention was in fact Badger.

Jesse felt relieved but nevertheless hissed, “Dude, keep your voice down! And no, I never met the guy while I was working with the Salamanca’s, so there’s like no way I could actually track him down.”

It hadn’t been a complete lie. He had gotten a glimpse of Walt, or rather ‘Heisenberg’ a few times at the warehouse but he had never been in close proximity to the guy or interacted with him. Therefore, Jesse could argue that he hadn’t technically _met_ him before he had hit Jesse with his car. As for tracking Walt down however… well, Jesse could do that quite easily given that he was staying in the man’s cabin. Nevertheless, Jesse felt reluctant to inform Badger about his new living situation.

Considering that he was trying to leave the meth business behind him, Jesse doubted Walt wanted anyone else to know that he was the chef behind the Blue Sky meth. Badger, unable to contain himself would most likely blab to Pete and Combo as well. As such, Jesse could only imagine them hounding him to get try get ‘Heisenberg’ to cook again. And if word got out that he was still around… well, then who knew what could happen.

Plus, Walt wasn’t the only one who wanted to put the world of drugs behind him. Jesse may have been embroiled in that business for far longer but in the end, he felt the same way as Walt. Furthermore, he had already told Mike that he no longer had any connections to his previous profession, something of which while Jesse having never said it out loud, Mike had easily been able to surmise what Jesse had been involved with.

Jesse wanted a fresh start and for Walt’s sake as well it was probably best that people thought Heisenberg had either fled the area to escape the cops or was no more.

Badger meanwhile visibly deflated upon hearing that Jesse hadn’t actually met the master chef.

“Aww, seriously? You didn’t? That sucks,” he said, and it worried Jesse that his friend had somehow thought it would have actually been possible to convince some stranger they had tracked down to cook meth especially for them.

Badger being incredibly versatile quickly bounced back however.

“Hey, I get off of work in like half an hour if you wanna come hang at my place with Pete and Combo? Combo managed to score some weed last night.”

“Really?” Jesse asked, feeling happy to be asked despite Badger knowing he didn’t have anything on him himself.

It had felt like forever since he had last hung out with them all, and almost equally as long since he had last gotten high.

The thought of hanging out with his friends, talking crap, getting stoned and playing videogames was incredibly appealing but just as Jesse opened his mouth to eagerly accept the invitation, he quickly shut it again, remembering that he hadn’t come to the city alone. With his phone busted there was no way to contact Walt to let him know where he was or going, and leaving Walt hanging around and waiting would be a pretty dick move. Glancing down at his watch, he saw that he still had sometime before he was supposed to meet up with Walt but by the time he got to Badger’s place it really wouldn’t be worth it.

“Oh, uh, I can’t,” Jesse replied, apologetically, “I’m actually here with someone. I’m supposed to go meet them a little while.”

Badger’s eyes instantly lit up. “Is the person you’re with a mutt as well? You should totally bring them along!”

Jesse let out an exasperated sigh in response. “No, they ain’t a mutt. They’re just a regular old human being like you.”

Jesse was the only mutt Badger had ever properly met before and his friend was especially eager to meet another one. He seemed to think the best way to achieve this was through Jesse despite Jesse having told him numerous times in the past that he didn’t really know or was in contact with any other mutts. It had also led to Jesse at one point having to awkwardly explain that neither his parents or younger brother were mutts, something that Badger had seemed incapable of quite grasping, in turn further hammering into Jesse what a complete freak of nature he truly was.

Man, what he wouldn’t give to be normal…

Oh well, he supposed he should at least be thankful that he had ran into Badger after he had bought new pants, otherwise his friend would have may a huge deal about Jesse having his tail on show. And given both how loud Badger was as well as what he was currently wearing, yelling about mutts would definitely have attracted a lot more attention from the people walking by.

“Aww, that’s way less cool,” said Badger, sounding disappointed yet again, “Is it some chick you’re here with at least?”

“Just a friend,” Jesse replied hesitantly.

Was that what Walt was to him? A friend? The man was allowing Jesse to live with him after all, and this time it was without the threat of blackmail. Letting someone stay with you wasn’t something someone did for just anybody, let alone someone like him. He couldn’t help but wonder how Walt viewed him.

Remembering how pleased he had been for him the day before, Jesse felt his cheeks flush lightly as he tried recalling just when the last time it was when someone felt genuinely happy on his behalf.

“But he’s a pretty cool guy, you know?” Jesse added, although he was rather sure that Walt existed far out with his friends’ definition of ‘cool’ as possible. Of course, if they knew that the guy was actually Heisenberg, Jesse was sure their opinion would change. Then again, even after everything Jesse still saw Walt as a gigantic nerd.

“Does he wanna come hang as well? I don’t know how much weed Combo has on him and my place is pretty small but…”

“Nah, it’s cool.” He highly doubted that Walt would want anything to do with his friends. It was already hard enough for Jesse to believe that Walt wanted to have anything to do with him. Plus, despite having cooked all that meth, Jesse found it hard to picture Walt actually getting high himself. Although, he was sure it would certainly make for an interesting sight.

“Uh, some other time though, yeah?” Jesse asked, trying to reign in some of the hopefulness from his voice.

“Totally! Just let me know next time your around,” said Badger, “Hey where are you saying now anyway?”

Jesse floundered slightly, not quite sure of how to answer when all of a sudden something, or rather someone, caught his eye.

“Uh, Badger…”

Jesse pointed across the street, and his friend quickly turned to see some really angry looking guy yelling.

“Mayhew! Mayhew!” Jesse could hear him calling, “Get over here _now_!”

Badger cringed. “Shit! That’s my boss!”  

“Better get back. This job’s so lame, yo,” said Badger with an overly dramatic sigh.

Jesse chuckled, inwardly relieved about the distraction, again reluctant to explain to Badger his new living situation and how it had come to be. “I bet.”

“Anyway, catch you later, man!”

Jesse raised his hand and gave a small wave goodbye. “Yeah. Later.”

Jesse stood watching for a couple of minutes as Badger crossed the street – almost getting hit by a car in the process – and got a lecture from his boss about playing hooky and not taking his job seriously enough. Although, given that his job involved dressing as a giant dollar bill and waving a sign about, Jesse felt most people would have a difficult time taking that particular job seriously.

Badger’s boss looked exasperated and Jesse couldn’t help but snigger. Knowing Badger, it probably wouldn’t be long before he got himself fired. But no matter what, Badger always seemed to bounce back; he just seemed to have that kind of luck about him. It was something that Jesse had always envied about his friend, but given how his current life situation was going he certainly couldn’t complain.

Nevertheless, it was still difficult for Jesse to believe that he would soon be starting a job of his own. Like Badger’s, the job itself would probably be somewhat dull and tedious but given that Mike would be his boss he assumed Kaylee when not at school or with her mom would be around a decent amount of the time as well, which in Jesse’s mind far outweighed any tedium he may experience. Plus, working within the confines of the law was definitely a step up in any case. Although, he supposed Walt’s accumulated wealth from working out with it didn’t help that argument in the larger scheme of things. Regardless, Walt had seemed relieved after Jesse had revealed that he would be working in a general store and not breaking into places for Saul Goodman.

As Jesse begun to walk away, he found that he was surprised at himself for so easily turning down Badger’s offer to hang out and get high, in addition as to how little it bothered him that he wouldn’t be able to join his friends considering his anxiety in the past over whether they really wanted him around or not. Maybe it was simply enough knowing that Badger at least like his company. As such, he hoped he would get to see his friend again soon.

Meanwhile, despite it being less than an hour since they had parted ways, all Jesse could really focus on was his need to see Walt. And as he walked through the streets, again with no real destination in mind, he kept thinking just how much he wanted to see the older man at that moment. He had rushed off earlier but now he just wanted to be by Walt’s side.

He really had no idea as to why he was suddenly feeling so uneasy. With his ears and tail obscured from view, no one had any idea that he was a mutt. There was nothing to explain or justify why he was so on edge other than the fact that there were just so many people and smells that it felt overwhelming; smells completely different from the ones surrounding the woodland of the cabin. Still, it wasn’t like he was in any danger and all the smells around him, he was familiar with.

As time wore on, Jesse felt both his strong desire to be next to Walt and his anxiety gradually increase, wishing he had at least asked Walt where he had planned on visiting as fearful thoughts such as Walt not being there when the time to meet up eventually came around; that something had happened to the older man or that he had changed his mind and decided that he didn’t want anything to do with Jesse after all and had returned home without him thus leaving Jesse all alone once more.

Inwardly, Jesse cursed himself, realising that he was being both stupid and irrational. Not to mention that it was unfair to Walt to believe that after everything he had done for Jesse that he would just up and abandon him without saying anything.

Nonetheless, the fear, baseless or not, persisted, and with his heart hammering in his chest, Jesse slipped into a small alley out of the way and leaning back against the wall, took a deep breath as he let the bag he was carrying drop to the ground.

“Fuck,” he cursed, this time out loud, as he resisted the urge to slide down the wall and curl into himself. He felt so sad and pathetic.

He regretted not going to Badger’s place. Even if he would have had to rush about, it would have given him something to occupy his time in the meanwhile, and the weed would have at least calmed his nerves a little. Smoking pot had always helped him feel more relaxed whenever he had to deal with the Salamanca’s more terrifying and unpredictable contacts.

He wondered if he concentrated hard enough, if he could maybe catch a whiff of someone smoking some and ask them if he could have a drag or-

Jesse’s eyes widened as he suddenly recalled his earlier conversation with Badger when he had suggested tracking ‘Heisenberg’ down based on his super smelling mutt powers or whatever ridiculous way his friend had put it.

It was a long shot, especially with so many people and different smells overlapping and entwining together in the city, but perhaps if he focused enough then he just might be able to pick up Walt’s scent…

Jesse was in a somewhat beneficial position given that he had been wearing Walt’s clothes earlier that day whilst waiting for his own to dry. And although he had since washed and changed into his own clothes, small traces of Walt’s scent from them lingered on his skin. Glad to be in the alleyway and out of the way of prying eyes, Jesse uncovered his arm and sniffed at it. He discovered that getting a small hint of Walt’s scent seemed to help relax him. It was ridiculously comforting.

Of course, the bigger issue was could he actually track down exactly where Walt was from it. And so, with a deep breath, Jesse set off, his anxiety slowly being replaced with determination.

A couple of times Jesse was misled due to silly mistakes such as an overreliance on focusing only on one scent. As it turned out, the kind of aftershave Walt wore seemed to be pretty popular. Jesse suspected that this was more due to it being relatively cheap rather than the fragrance smelling particularly appealing. Although weirdly Jesse found it smelt quite good on Walt, and this mixed in with the man’s own unique scent signature, created a whole new scent, making it much easier for Jesse to identify and pick up on it.

Eventually Jesse was led to what appeared to be a large department store. He lingered in the entryway for a minute or so, trying to appear inconspicuous before coming to the conclusion that while positive that Walt had been there he had since left.

Rather than this making him dejected, it coaxed Jesse onwards, happy to know that he was on the right track. And so, after picking up Walt’s trail again he finally came upon a sizable bookstore.

Walt was there, Jesse knew it, smell or not, and quickly he hurried on in.

Jesse’s eyes lit up, so relieved and happy to see him when finally, he found Walt standing there in the magazine section, his back turned to Jesse. Just as he had rushed back to the cabin the previous day, Jesse wanted to hurry to the older man’s side. However, not wanting to appear overeager, or well, desperate, Jesse decided to try and play it cool.

 “Man, you really are a nerd, huh?” said Jesse, alerting Walt to his presence as he took in his familiar and comforting scent, it being far more potent when standing right next to him.

In the end he had been completely incapable of keeping the smile from his face and so had resorted to some light-hearted teasing in hopes of masking his relief and happiness of seeing Walt despite being parted for only a couple of hours.

The rest of the day had its ups and downs. Jesse had admitted to Walt that he had tracked him down using his powerful sense of smell after not accepting that it was simply a coincidence that Jesse had come across him in the bookstore. Jesse had however omitted that he had actively been seeking Walt out, instead claiming that he had caught a whiff of his scent by chance.

Much to Jesse’s immense relief, Walt seemed much more impressed by his ability than disgusted by it.

They decided afterwards to grab something to eat, choosing a small diner across the street from the bookstore.

Going there had been a mixed bag. From almost the moment they walked in the place, Walt had been in a bad mood. And while Walt was a pretty grumpy guy in general, it had felt different from usual, Jesse then finding out that place was bring up some old memories for Walt regarding his ex-wife, leaving Jesse feeling rather guilty about suggesting the place.

Food-wise Jesse had rather enjoyed the burger and fries and two milkshakes he had there. The whole thing with the waitress however…well not so much. Jesse was just surprised how angry Walt seemed to become about it. But as he had told him, he was used to getting that sort of reaction from people. In the end, it was really the contrast of someone liking you one moment, then being completely repulsed by you the next that hurt the most. Experiencing hatred and rejection from a person from the get-go was far easier to deal with than a brief moment of acceptance that would only be stripped away in the end.

Although, interestingly enough when it came to his relationship with Walt it had been the other way around, Walt completely hating him at first. Even now, Jesse still wasn’t quite sure what had changed the man’s opinion about him,

Jesse smiled as he thought about it. Yeah. He definitely preferred it this way.

Walt continued to spur him on whenever he had doubts, offering reassurance when Jesse admitted his worries about starting his new job and having to have his ears and tail on show. Walt liked them, seemed fascinated with his canine appendages almost. He supposed Badger was as well to an extent, albeit in what felt to be a completely different way from Walt. Jesse certainly couldn’t imagine Badger touching his ears the way Walt did after all, the mere thought alone making him cringe. But with Walt, it was almost like he craved the other man’s touch, wanting desperately for Walt to reach out and touch the things he so deeply resented and had kept hidden for so long.

And as soon as they returned back to the cabin, that’s exactly what Walt had done, reaching out and pressing his hand lightly against his head the moment Jesse had removed his beanie.

Sitting on the couch next to Walt, remembering all of this, Jesse felt cheeks redden again, and the urge to stretch out and rest his head upon Walt’s lap remained strong.

He couldn’t help but wonder about how Walt would react. Would it be with disgust, resulting in him shoving him away, or would he simply continue reading his book whilst lightly stroking Jesse’s hair and ears.

“You okay, son?” Walt questioned, now staring over at him, peering up from his book.

“Uh, ye-yeah, I’m fine!” Jesse replied panicked, having the insane worry that Walt had somehow read his mind.

“Your tail giving you trouble again?” Walt asked with a small quirk of his lips.

“Wh-What?” Jesse stuttered before it clicked that Walt was teasing him.

Pouting, Jesse retorted with, “It’s fine, yo.”

Walt simply chuckled. “Well, if you say so.”

When they had returned from the city the previous day, Jesse hadn’t lasted long before rushing to cut out a hole in his new pants to accommodate his tail, the thing continuing to drive him crazy.

Although he had gotten used to not having it tucked down in his pants since staying with Walt, Jesse had hoped to manage a little longer with it being hidden away. But for whatever reason, the damn thing insisted on moving.

When Jesse complained again, Walt relayed the conclusion he had come to at the diner before they had been interrupted, suggesting that the reason Jesse’s tail ‘wagging’ – and God Jesse had groaned loudly in dismay upon hearing that word applied to him – was because he was in a good mood and feeling pleased.

Jesse supposed that sort of made sense, and while he had certainly been feeling a lot better than he had in an incredibly long time, it did little to stifle his embarrassment about it, his tail having been much more of an annoyance to deal with when he had been an overly excitable kid. As such, he had assumed that as an adult that he had just learnt to control it better.

But apparently this was not the case…

Walt seemed to find amusement in this which both annoyed Jesse whilst also making him kind of happy as when he came down to it, he really did love it when the older man smiled.

“So,” Walt began, placing his book down, “For dinner tonight I was thinking of-”

“Hey, I…I think someone’s coming,” Jesse interrupted, his left ear perking up slightly, hearing what sounded like footsteps.

“You’re sure?” Walt looked surprised at this. To Jesse’s knowledge he hadn’t been expecting any guests, and the place was so far out of the way that practically no one came by.

“Who is it?” he asked Jesse.

“Yo, I can hear really well, I can’t see through walls,” Jesse retorted, sarcastically, Walt shooting him an annoyed look in return.

Jesse just hoped it wasn’t that asshole DEA agent, preferring not to be manhandled and pinned to the ground with a gun pointed at him.

There was a loud knock on the door and at the sound Walt stood up, Jesse following suit, before realising that he should probably hide somewhere out of the way.

“Hey, I think I’ll go chill in there for a while, if that’s cool,” said Jesse, gesturing to the bedroom.

Walt looked confused.

“No one knows I’m here, right? And it might be your ex-wife or…I dunno, someone else from your family.”

Walt frowned. “Jesse, you…you don’t need to…” he said hesitantly.

Jesse suspected that Walt likely knew that it was best that Jesse hid away out of sight but didn’t want to say so.

“Seriously, it’s cool, yo.”

Walt looked like he wanted to protest and so Jesse light-heartedly added, “Besides if the rest of your family is anything like your dickwad brother-in-law or whatever the hell he is now then I’d rather just hang back. Getting pinned to the floor by one asshole is enough.”

Walt gave him a small smile. “That seems fair.”

There was another knock on the door, this time louder.

Whoever it was on the other side of the door seemed to be growing impatient.

“Coming!” yelled Walt and as he went to answer the door, Jesse crept into the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

He lingered behind it. While it wasn’t like he planned on eavesdropping in on the conversation or anything, he was still curious to who this mystery person at the door was. If it was that asshole agent, would Walt tell him that Jesse had finally left, or would he be truthful and admit that he had allowed Jesse to stay longer?

Although Walt seemed quite happy for Jesse to remain, that certainly didn’t mean he wanted his family to know that he had a mutt living with him. As such, Jesse couldn’t help but wonder how Walt’s ex-wife would react knowing that her ex-husband was living with a mutt.

From how Walt had behaved at the diner the day before, it was clear that he wasn’t over her. Jesse supposed this made sense as Walt had admitted to him that it was only she who had wanted the divorce. Jesse imagined her opinion still mattered a lot to Walt of in which case it would be understandable that he didn’t want her to know about Jesse.

“Can I help you?” Jesse could hear Walt ask as he opened the front.

Feeling dejected all of a sudden, Jesse turned away from the door when he heard a familiar voice answer back; a voice that made his blood run cold.

“Yeah, you can. You’re Heisenberg, right?”

The voice belonged to Tuco Salamanca.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! As always, comments and kudos are appreciated. :)


	15. Chapter 15

“You’re Heisenberg, right?” the familiar voice said, and Jesse took a staggering step back from the bedroom door, almost falling over in the process.

His heart hammered in his chest, unable to believe who Walt had just opened the door to.

What the hell was that psychopath Tuco Salamanca doing here?

“Yo, I asked you a question, _bitch_.” Jesse heard Tuco say aggressively when Walt didn’t respond. “Are you Heisenberg?”

“I-I…” Jesse heard Walt stutter. Jesse could only imagine the shocked and panicked expression on the man’s face at being asked that question. As far as Walt was concerned, his time as Heisenberg was over.

Jesse wanted to open the bedroom door and hurry to Walt’s side, but discovered that his legs wouldn’t move, frozen almost in fear.

Numerous questions rushed through his head like how the hell had Tuco been able to track Walt down, and where had he been all this time?

Like with the rest of the Salamanca family, Jesse had simply assumed that Tuco had been arrested. It was only now that he thought about it that he realised that Tuco wouldn’t have been at the warehouse the night of the raid at all.

Tuco generally dealt with other parts of the business and so didn’t spend much time at the warehouse where the cooks took place. What exactly Tuco did Jesse wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling that what with the guy being a complete psycho and a loose cannon, that Don Hector had deliberately tried to keep him away from and preoccupied with other things.

Given that he had lived there, Jesse had always considered Tuco’s absence to be a blessing but now that he had suddenly turned up on Walt’s doorstep, maybe it wouldn’t have been that bad a thing had he been around the warehouse more frequently; specifically, when the DEA had busted in and raided the place.

Known to the cops, Jesse could only conclude that Tuco must have spent the past six weeks in hiding, which for a guy like him was impressive considering his erratic behaviour.

 “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve clearly mistaken me with someone else.” He heard Walt answer finally and Jesse cringed at the answer.

“No,” Jesse mouthed silently to himself.

Tuco was lunatic. Jesse knew this first hand from the time the man had beaten the crap out of him just for looking in his general direction. Of course, while someone could simply chalk that incident up to prejudice and a general hatred towards mutts, Jesse also knew that Tuco had once beaten one of his long-time friends to _death_ simply because he said something to piss him off.

The guy had zero restraint, his unstable behaviour well known among all ranks of the Salamanca family. And if Tuco thought that someone was deliberately lying to him; if he knew that Walt actually was lying to him, then…

Fear struck Jesse and just as he was about to open the door and rush to Walt’s side, he was suddenly halted in his tracks when he heard the unmistakeable sound of Tuco laughing.

“Nah, you’re definitely him,” said Tuco, “I saw you one time at my uncle’s warehouse. Bald dude, glasses, goatee. Yeah, no mistaking it. _You’re_ Heisenberg.”

As had been the case with himself, it appeared that while he had seen Walt, Tuco had never actually _met_ him.

It was somewhat surprising that Don Hector had never introduced their prize cook to him. Then again, maybe he had been worried that his nephew would beat the crap out of their chef just as he had once done with their runner.

Jesse tensed as he heard the sound of footsteps sound along the floorboards. Jesse could tell that they didn’t belong to Walt meaning Tuco must have entered the cabin, clearly having invited himself in. And although he was hidden behind the bedroom door, Jesse instinctively took a step back.

“Shit. It took me forever to track you down. Like an idiot, my uncle didn’t find out where you actually live. So, fucking stupid, right?” Tuco laughed again, before his tone swiftly switched to that of anger. “Six fucking weeks! You have any idea how hard it is to find someone when the cops are all looking for you, huh?! And I had to do it without any of that blue shit to keep me going!”

Jesse winced.

“But finally…finally I’ve found you, _Heisenberg_. So why you gotta pretend otherwise? My uncle’s in prison so that means you deal with _me_ now. Unless you think I’m not good enough or something?”

“No, no, of course not!” Walt responded immediately, Jesse able to distinctly hear the panic in his voice through the door, “You’re Don Salamanca’s nephew, right? I just…I just didn’t know who you were was all, and you have to be careful about these things. Correct?”

Tuco nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. Smart thinking, Heisenberg. I’m Tuco.”

“Tuco. Yes of course.”

“Hey, you have any of that blue shit here? Could seriously go for a bump right now.”

“I’m afraid I don’t,” Walt apologised.

“You sure? You ain’t holding out on me or nothin’?”

“No. Of course not. I swear.”

“Fine. I believe you. A guy like you don’t look like he uses. Best for business that way.”

Jesse bet Don Salamanca wished his nephew didn’t use. Then again, Tuco would probably be a lunatic even when stone cold sober.

There was silence for several moments, Jesse only hearing the footsteps of Tuco as he walked around the cabin.

“So, it was pretty lucky that you managed to get out before the DEA arrived.”

Jesse stilled. He desperately wanted to run out there to Walt’s side, but what could he possibly do? Tuco was bigger and much stronger than he was, and it there was a good chance that he had a gun on him as well. Jesse would be powerless against him. And if Tuco saw him, it was likely that he would kill him right there on the spot.

But still, the thought of Walt out there alone with that psycho…

“Look Tuco, I don’t want any trouble,” said Walt in placating manner, “I know how it may appear, but I promise you that I haven’t spoken to anyone. No cops. Nothing like that, I swear. And I won’t. Even if they-”

“Hey, relax, Heisenberg. I know that,” Tuco replied.

“You do?” Walt sounded slightly relieved.

“Yeah, cause if you did, you’d be dead within a day. And hey, you have a family too, right? Well, I’d track them down and kill them to.”

Tuco laughed loudly and Jesse gritted his teeth, both at the thought of Tuco hurting Walt and for how absolutely useless he was being.

“Tuco, please. My family, they have nothing to do with this.”

“I said relax. It won’t come to that, right? Cause you ain’t never gonna talk to anybody.”

“No! Of course!”

“Good. That’s good. Cause I’d hate to kill such a smart guy, and you’re pretty fricking valuable to me.”

For a brief moment Jesse felt relief. While he wasn’t sure what Tuco wanted, he wasn’t here to kill Walt at least.

His relief was short-lived however as he quickly remembered what an unpredictable maniac Tuco was and that coming from him words or assurances like that meant absolutely nothing. After all, he had claimed that he hadn’t _wanted_ to kill his friend that time, it had just happened. His friend had brought it upon himself by pissing him off.

Jesse just prayed that Walt didn’t say or do anything to anger Tuco.

“Hey, this really where you live?”

There was no answer from Walt, leading Jesse to assume that the man had nodded in response to his question given Tuco continued on speaking.

“Place is pretty small. We were paying you a shit ton of money and this crappy cabin in like the middle of nowhere is where you decide to stay? What the hell’s up with that?”

Jesse heard Tuco chuckle. “You seriously have shitty taste, Heisenberg. Hey, your family, they stay here too?”

“No, it’s just…” Walt paused. “They live elsewhere.”

“You divorced?”

“Yes, just recently.”

“Good. That makes things easier.”

Unable to see anything, Jesse guessed there must have been fear on Walt’s face as Tuco replied with, “Don’t worry, I ain’t here to kill you or nothing. I’m just here to talk about business is all.”

“Business?”

“Yeah. Exactly. Your meth.”

“I, well, I’m actually out of the meth business,” Walt answered, “I haven’t been cooking for uh, any other crews if that’s something you were concerned about. As far as I’m aware there’s none of my particular brand of meth on the street now. That should be proof enough.”

“And I won’t cook if someone approaches me, I promise,” Walt added.

Badger would be disappointed, Jesse found himself thinking, somewhat inappropriately given the tense situation playing out on the other side of the door.

“I know you won’t, cause you’re gonna be cooking for my family again.”

Jesse frowned. Tuco couldn’t be serious. Pretty much all of his people where in prison. Plus, the cops would definitely be on the lookout for him and given that he wasn’t exactly the most inconspicuous person in the world, he was more than likely to attract their attention eventually. There was no way he could head the business. He was too well known.

“You?” said Walt, like Jesse, surprised at Tuco’s words. “But your family, aren’t they all-”

“Yo, don’t worry about that. I got family and connections all over,” Tuco replied, “We ain’t gonna be cooking here. We’re gonna drive across the border, find my cousins and set up like a super lab there, knock out a shit load of your meth and sell it. You and me, Heisenberg, we’re gonna make a ton of money. It’s gonna be _tight_.”

“So, grab your shit. We’re leaving now.”

Jesse’s felt his heart stop upon hearing Tuco’s intentions. He meant to take Walt away from here; away from _him_.

No. He couldn’t. Walt was…Jesse needed…

“Across the border? What? No, I can’t,” Walt replied, sounding just as shocked as Jesse felt.

“What d’you mean you can’t?” retorted Tuco, his voice turning dark.

Jesse tensed. People like Tuco Salamanca did not like to be questioned or told no.

“Well, for starters I have a life here. A family,” Walt tried explaining, the fear having momentarily left his voice, replaced instead with incredulousness. “I just can’t up and leave them without saying anything.”

“I thought you said you were divorced.”

“I am, but I still can’t just-”

“Then what the hell’s the problem?!” yelled Tuco, not understanding in the slightest, “What the fuck else do you have to stick around here for? You move across the border, cook meth and find yourself a new family!”

Jesse’s heart started hammering in his chest at the sound of Tuco losing his cool.

“You live in a shitty little cabin in the middle of nowhere, all by yourself, right?”

Walt didn’t reply, probably unsure how to. From working for the Salamanca’s, Jesse knew that family was very important to them, but this of course didn’t extend to other people’s family.

“Hey, you keep looking back over there.” Jesse heard Tuco say after a few beats, “There something behind that door you don’t want me to see?”

“It…It’s nothing. It’s just my bedroom is all.”

“Then why the hell do you keep staring it? Wait…is there somebody in there? Is someone else here?”

Eyes widening, Jesse took an immediate step back from the door. If Tuco came in here in saw him, he’d be done for.  

Eyes darting around the room, Jesse realised he should quickly find somewhere to hide. Under the bed would probably be the best place. Or perhaps he could climb out the window? Yes, he was lithe enough that if he opened it wide enough he could easily fit through.

But…No. He couldn’t just abandon Walt like that.

Still, what could he do? He felt useless…He was-

“No one, it’s just-”

“Yo, tell me who the fuck is in there!”

At that moment Jesse heard the unmistakable sound of a gun trigger clicking and without a second thought he pulled open the door and rushed out.

“Wait!” he cried out.

Jesse caught sight of Walt who thankfully despite appearing slightly terrified seemed to be okay. It was hard to focus on the man however as a second later he had a gun pointed directly at his face. Jesse immediately raised his arms in the hope of showing that he wasn’t a threat. But for all the good it that such a display would do against someone like Tuco…

“Who the fuck are you?!” demanded Tuco, inching closer to Jesse, and the fear that briefly abandoned him as he had rushed out returned. It was one thing to hear Tuco through the door and another to be standing before him. And while he had been correct about Tuco having a weapon on him, Jesse believed he would have been just as frightened of Tuco without one as he remembered the brutal beating he taken off the man when he had used just his bare fists.

“Tuco! No, wait!” Walt cried this time.

Gun still pointed at him, Tuco stopped and turned his head to glare at Walt. Another thing Tuco didn’t like was to be interrupted.

“What!?” shouted Tuco furiously.

“Please, Tuco. Just put the gun down,” said Walt pleadingly.

“I asked you, who the fuck this little bitch is. I thought you said no one else was here!”

“I…well, I said my family didn’t live here…This is…”

“Yo, is that a mutt?” Tuco interrupted, squinting, only now just noticing Jesse’s ears.

His eyes narrowed. “Why the hell is there a _mutt_ here?”

“Well, he lives…”

“I’m his pet!” Jesse’s panicked mind quickly supplied. There was no way that Tuco would accept that Jesse lived here as Walt’s equal and friend. The man held a very specific view of the world. And being well aware of Tuco’s temperament and unstable nature, those around him had willing complied with and accommodated said views for fear of being beaten or worse, _killed_.

Already in a state of agitation and with a gun in his hand it was definitely in both his and Walt’s best interests to avoid exacerbating his mood further.

“I wasn’t talking to you!” Tuco shouted turning back to face him, making Jesse flinch. “Heisenberg, is this true? Is this little bitch your pet?”

Managing to briefly tear his gaze from Tuco, his eyes met Walt’s, silently imploring him to back him up.

Walt appeared completely shell-shocked. Jesse couldn’t blame him considering that until just a little over ten minutes ago, he had been sat contentedly reading a book on the sofa, while now he had some crazed stranger in his house brandishing a gun.

Nonetheless, much to Jesse’s relief Walt agreed with him.

“Yes. Jesse is…I mean this is my pet,” confirmed Walt. Jesse could hear the shame in his voice and while maybe even just a day ago, Jesse would have immediately assumed that Walt’s regret was due to having to state that he had a mutt as a pet, after the previous day Jesse knew that this was no longer the case. Instead Walt felt guilt about it.

“Your _pet_?”

“Yes. Please don’t hurt him,” Walt pleaded, taking a tentative step forward, “He’s…He’s all I have.”

Even though Walt was just saying this to get Tuco to back off, Jesse nevertheless felt something stir inside of him at Walt’s words. Once upon a time, not long after the death of his aunt and the estrangement of his parents Jesse had tried convincing himself that he didn’t need anybody else. But now what he wouldn’t give to be that important to someone, to have someone need to him and miss him if he were gone; to have _Walt_ miss him.

Tuco, meanwhile looked utterly disgusted at Walt’s admission but to Jesse’s relief lowered his gun. Jesse in turn let out a breath he hadn’t realised he had been holding, believing that things should hopefully go more smoothly if Tuco didn’t see Jesse as a threat. Not that Jesse felt he could possibly ever be one to someone like Tuco. Gun or no, Tuco could dispose of him easily.

At the very least Tuco hadn’t seemed to recognise him. Either this said how little the man actually thought of Jesse or that he had beaten so many people up in his lifetime that it was simply impossible to keep track of them all. Both were equally likely.

“I’m disappointed in you, Heisenberg. You actually let one of these _things_ live with you in your house?”

Neither he nor Walt replied. Jesse certainly wasn’t going to make any attempts to defend himself or his species or whatever abnormality he constituted as; his mere existence being an affront to Tuco. Still, in Walt’s case at the very least it was much better to have Tuco disappointed and disgusted with him than enraged and thus unpredictable.

Of course, given that it was Tuco they were talking about, that could change at a moment’s notice.

“You’re saying this piece of shit is really all you have?” questioned Tuco, eyeing Jesse up and down. “So, what, is he like a substitute for your family or something?”

 “No. Of course not.” Walt retorted.

Inwardly, Jesse recoiled. Of course, Jesse could never possibly replace his family.

“But, still, he’s important to me.”

Jesse’s eyes widened meeting Walt’s, his ears perking up ever so slightly. And forgetting the perilous situation a small smile found its way to his mouth.

“Explain it!” Tuco demanded, startling both him and Walt, clearly unsatisfied with Walt’s answer.

“I suppose he provides me companionship. He keeps me company,” Walt answered, glancing over at Jesse, leaving out the whole blackmail incidence that had resulted in Jesse staying with him.

“Companionship? Man, that’s fucked up. Get an actual dog or pay for like an escort or a friggin prostitute if you’re that lonely. Not like you’re still married or can’t afford it.”

Walt started to cough loudly all of a sudden and without thinking Jesse made a move towards him, worrying that Walt hadn’t properly recovered from his bout of flu after all. This was clearly a mistake however as the second he tried to do so, Tuco had his gun raised and pointed directly at him once more.

“Hey! Did I say you could move, _bitch_!?”

“Sorry!” Jesse apologised, taking an immediate step back.

“Get over here!” screamed Tuco, grabbing Jesse roughly by scruff of his neck. Jesse flinched at the touch, remembering the last time Tuco had laid his hands on him.

“Jesse!” cried Walt as he took a step forward, his voice hoarse from his coughing fit.

“Sit there and shut the hell up!” Tuco ordered, shoving Jesse unceremoniously down onto the couch before turning and pointing the gun at Walt. “And you, get your ass back over there!”

Both men did what they were told.

Tuco moaned loudly. “God! This was supposed to be simple!” he yelled, starting to pace around the room angrily, “We should have left by now!”

Only someone like Tuco could think that he could barge into someone’s home, have them uproot their life without a question asked, go with him and then blame them when things didn’t instantly go as he had planned.

Nevertheless, Tuco at least seemed to need Walt which meant that he was safe for the time being. Jesse definitely couldn’t say the same for himself however, especially as his presence or general existence didn’t seem to factor into Tuco’s plans in whatsoever. Unlike Walt, he couldn’t cook meth. All he had ever been was a runner, and despite his abilities, he was easily replaceable. Walt meanwhile not so much.

“Anyway, like I was saying before we were interrupted by this little shit stain,” Tuco growled, finally ceasing his pacing, “We’re gonna drive across the border and find my cousins. We’ll get you set up in a new lab and your gonna start cooking again. You can even get yourself a new family or whatever. You won’t need no mutt to keep you company anymore. I bet that sounds pretty sweet, right, Heisenberg?”

Either Tuco had conveniently forgotten Walt’s earlier protests of not wanting to leave his home or had chosen to ignore them altogether, placing Walt in the incredibly difficult and unpleasant position of reiterating it to him.

“Tuco,” Walt began tentatively, using a tone of voice that Jesse remembered spoken to in as a small child, “Like I said before, I can’t just leave my home. I may not be living with my family right now, but they still need me; rely on me. The whole reason I started cooking meth in the first place was because of them; to provide them some with financial security, to give them a future.”

“Yeah, and you can keep sending money back to them or whatever when you start cooking again and get yourself a new family while you’re at it,” Tuco supplied as if that was the issue solved.

“Tuco, I don’t want a-”

“Wait a minute, I know you!” Tuco declared suddenly, interrupting Walt.

Jesse tensed and glancing up after several nerve-racking moments saw that Tuco was standing over him, staring down and scrutinising him with that harsh stare of his.

“Weren’t you our runner? You worked for us; my uncle.”

Jesse remained silent. And while it probably wouldn’t make a difference Tuco knowing, he felt caught out.

“Hey, didn’t I beat the shit out of you once?”

Tuco bent forward to get an even closer look and instinctively Jesse shut his eyes, feeling as if he were suddenly in the presence of some ferocious beast that he should look directly at lest it pounded on and devoured him.

He cursed himself. He should have escaped out of the window back in the bedroom when he had the chance.

“Yeah! Yeah, I totally did!” Tuco laughed loudly, slapping his knees. Of course, the psycho would find amusement in what had been an incredibly traumatic experience for him. Jesse supposed he should just be thankful that unlike Tuco’s _friend_ , he hadn’t ended up dead.

“I never got why my uncle even hired a mutt in the first place. Sure, you pieces of shit can run fast, but what else are you good for? I mean, besides that, you’re pretty much useless, right?” He looked back over at Walt and smirked. “Other than being someone’s bitch pet that is.”

“Well, you better say good bye to your master, bitch, cause he’s gonna be coming with me,” said Tuco, crouching down next to him invading his personal space even further. Jesse wanted to curl into himself.

He heard Walt take a tentative step forward. “Tuco-”

“But you know, there’s an issue, cause Heisenberg here wants to stay in this shithole cabin cause he thinks that you’re all he has.”

Jesse dared a glance up at Tuco who wore a sadistic expression on his face. The man stood up. “So, all I have to do is get rid of you then there’ll be nothing keeping him here. Problem solved, right?”

Jesse’s heart rate soared as he suddenly felt the tip of Tuco’s gun being pressed against his temple.

This was it, he thought. It was over for him. Walt would be carted off, made to be a slave and forced to cook meth for the Salamanca’s for the rest of his life while he meanwhile would be killed, his body left to rot on the floor of the place he had just recently come to think of as home.

Of course, it was just when Jesse finally felt happy about his life, that it was being stripped away from him. People like him weren’t allowed to be happy without experiencing some sort of consequence. If there was one thing life had taught him, it was that.

Jesse just wished Walt could have reached out and petted his head one last time before Tuco ended his life. Or even better, embrace him just as he had done when he had congratulated Jesse on getting a job working at Mike’s store.

If that was the last thing he experienced, Jesse felt that perhaps he could at least die with some semblance of peace. Naturally, the better option would be not to die at all but that didn’t seem likely.

“Tuco! Don’t!” Walt cried, Jesse able to hear the desperation in voice.

If he hadn’t been so terrified, Jesse believed that he would probably have been happy that there would at least be someone who would genuinely miss him when he was gone.

“Why the hell not?!” Tuco yelled angrily, “You can keep sending your family money. If your pet is really the only thing keeping you here, then I’ll put him down for you. I’m doing you a favour!”

Jesse gritted his teeth. Tuco didn’t even consider what he was about to do as being murder, instead perceiving him like some kind of sad animal whose owner no longer wanted to take care of them and so instead chose to put it down for convenience sake.

“Please, if you…if you just let him go then I’ll…”

He heard Walt sigh heavily.

“I’ll go with you across the border. I won’t resist. I’ll do whatever you want me to.”

Jesse’s eyes widened in shock. Walt was going to give up his freedom, so Jesse could go free?

No way. He couldn’t possibly be serious. That was…

“You make it sound like you actually had a choice coming with me in the first place, Heisenberg,” said Tuco, sounding amused.

Jesse wanted to turn around to see Walt but with the gun pressed against his temple he didn’t dare not move his head even an inch.

“So, what you’re saying is if I spare this piece of shit, you’ll come with me?”

Walt nodded, and Jesse felt his stomach churn. “I will. I promise.”

Tuco lowered his gun and Jesse stole a glance up at him. To his surprise Tuco actually seemed to be thinking the offer over.

“Nah. Why the hell would I agree to that when I could just splatter his brains all over the place instead? Plus, if he’s gone there won’t be any distractions for you.”

What happened next, occurred so quickly that Jesse could barely keep up. Tuco had raised his gun again, ready to off him once and for all when all of a sudden Walt rushed towards the man shoving at Tuco and causing the both of them to almost fall over in the process. Tuco’s gun fired but thankfully due to Walt’s interference, the bullet missed Jesse completely.

“Jesse, hurry! Run!” Walt shouted out as he grabbed awkwardly at Tuco, awakening Jesse from his momentary shock.

Doing what he was told, Jesse in an incredible feat of agility leapt up from the couch. Walt meanwhile was no match for Tuco as he shoved him away with ease.

“You fucking prick!” the madman screamed at Walt, whacking the side of his head with his pistol. Walt stumbled back, grabbing onto the coffee table to stop himself from toppling over completely.

“Walt!” Jesse cried, turning around, wanting to rush back to Walt. Tuco however was standing once more and unsurprisingly looked absolutely infuriated.

“I’ll fucking _kill_ you!” he shouted, once again gun raised.

“Jesse, go,” Walt managed to get out despite his clear disorientation from having just been hit on the head.

After a moment’s hesitation Jesse did as Walt ordered him to and ran towards the front door as swiftly as he could, flinging it wide open and fleeing outside.

Tuco fired another shot at him, it only just barely missing his head by a matter of seconds, the bullet striking the doorframe instead. Jesse heard a further shot being fired behind him but refused to look back as he rushed into the woodland in front of him. Tuco may have deemed mutts as being useless but right now Jesse was using his enhanced agility to his advantage, convinced he would most definitely have a bullet lodged in his brain without it.

Jesse continued running for several minutes, his feet carrying him as fast as they could go. It was only when it dawned on him that at this distance and the speed he was running that there was no way that Tuco could have possibly kept up with him that he finally stopped.

Panting heavily, he grabbed on to the nearest tree for support, his body shaking as he realised just how close to death he had been. For a moment he was certain he would throw up, but after a minute or so nothing had come of it.

Truly if Walt hadn’t interfered and lunged at Tuco like that then he would be…

Jesse’s heart stopped. Walt… he was still back there with that psychopath. And not only that, but he had actively defied him not to mention _attacked_ or at least had tried to subdue Tuco, something the man would not take lightly.

Jesse’s legs gave out from beneath him at that terrifying thought that Walt may be dead already; that Tuco in a fit of rage for losing Jesse and Walt getting in the way, had turned his gun on him.

He had killed people for far less after all.

Jesse closed his eyes tightly refusing to believe it. No. Tuco had been searching for Walt all this time, even in a state of anger, surely Tuco wouldn’t get rid of Walt so easily. He needed him after all. Maybe he could find some other cook and start over, but their meth would pale in comparison to Walt’s. Furthermore, Tuco may be a businessman, but above all else he was junkie and the junkie in him was well aware of how good the stuff Walt had cooked was. He wouldn’t just give that up.

Or at least that’s what Jesse hoped.

On his knees, Jesse pressed his head against the tree. His self-preservation instincts were telling him to get up and keep running until his legs could no longer carry him anymore. A month and a half ago he would have done so without a second thought. Back when he had no one he cared about deeply at all. Things were different now of course, and knowing that Walt was back there with Tuco meant running away and saving his own skin wasn’t option. And while Walt may not be killed – or at least Jesse desperately hoped this was the case – it didn’t change the fact that he was about to be taken against his will to God knows where.

For Jesse, the thought of never seeing Walt again was too much to bear. He couldn’t lose Walt. And while it was true that he had no idea what he could possibly do to save him, he refused to just abandon the man. Not after everything Walt had done for him.

Walt may not have really meant it when he had told Tuco that Jesse was all he had, but for Jesse it was fact. Walt really was all he had, and he refused to let go of him so easily.

And so, gathering all of his courage and with a great deal of determination, Jesse lifted himself up off the still snow-covered ground and taking a deep inhale of breath, began running back towards the man trying to kill him.

But far more importantly, back to Walt.

He just prayed he wasn’t too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks very much to everyone for reading! It is much appreciated as are comments or kudos. :)


	16. Chapter 16

Walt couldn’t believe what was happening to him. One minute he had been sat on his couch reading contentedly with Jesse sat by his side, and the next, some madman had showed up on his doorstep demanding to know if he was Heisenberg. Walt had frozen completely when heard his old pseudonym spoken out loud. He had tried denying that he was of course, but Tuco hadn’t believed him for a second. It certainly didn’t help that he appeared to know what Walt looked like either. Now Walt found himself regretting that he hadn’t let his hair grow back in after his cancer treatment was completed, his previous appearance being much more nondescript.

The madman at his doorstep had then barged into cabin, revealing his intention to take Walt –or rather Heisenberg – somewhere across the border so he could start cooking meth for the Salamanca family once again. In this matter Walt had absolutely no say, Tuco acting as if he should be happy about this unexpected development; that abandoning his family without a word was no big deal and that if he missed them he could simply acquire a new one.

It certainly didn’t take much time being in Tuco’s company for Walt to realise that the man was quite unstable. While he had never liked Hector Salamanca, he had at least been – to a certain extent – reasonable in his dealings with Walt. Tuco, meanwhile seemed unhinged… Walt wondered if that was the reason he never saw Tuco around the warehouse, his uncle wanting to keep him out of the way.

Things only got worse for Walt when Tuco pulled out a gun on him and Jesse who had been hiding in the bedroom out of sight, upon hearing the click of the trigger had rushed out to his aid only to then have both the gun and Tuco’s anger redirected at him. Walt had been able to for a short time to talk Tuco down from outright shooting Jesse, but his refusal not to just up and leave with Tuco to God knows where had enraged the man. And just as he was about to deal Jesse a deathblow, Walt had intervened, shoving Tuco off balance so that the bullet intended to take Jesse’s life missed him, allowing the younger man enough time to get away.

Tuco started after Jesse, shooting a couple of times more as he did so; one of the bullets from his gun now lodged in the doorframe.

Tuco ran outside but stopped after only a few steps, apparently even in his enraged state, he at least seemed to realise that there was no way he could possibly ever keep up with a mutt in terms of speed.

Walt felt immense relief that Jesse had gotten away safely. It was short-lived however, being immediately replaced with fear for his own wellbeing as Tuco came stomping back into the cabin. Jesse was gone, leaving him the only one to receive the full force of Tuco’s rage.

“You fucking prick!” he shouted in Walt’s face, lifting his gun and placing the barrel right between his eyes. Flinching, Walt took a step back, but Tuco followed suit, repositioning his weapon so it dug painfully into Walt’s skin.

“I should fucking kill you right now!”

Walt who was breathing labouredly was struggling to even stand at this point, still disorientated from the blow he had received to his head.

He held up his hands. “Tuco, no- You…You need me remember! Please.”

While just minutes ago he had been pleading for Jesse’s life to be spared, now here he was begging desperately for his own.

“Shut up!” yelled Tuco, who like Walt was also breathing heavily. He looked so infuriated that Walt was partly convinced that his words wouldn’t reach the man; that his desire to punish Walt for getting in the way of shooting Jesse would surpass Tuco’s very reason for seeking him out in the first place.

Walt recalled how terrified Jesse had seemed earlier. And while it certainly wasn’t an unusual response to be frightened when one had a gun pointed directly at them, Jesse’s fear appeared to be based on first-hand knowledge of being aware of exactly the kind of things Tuco was capable of. This was of course confirmed, when Tuco recognising Jesse, had proceeded to laugh in Jesse’s face about how he had once ‘beaten the shit out of him’.

Finally, much to Walt’s relief, Tuco lowered his gun. He wasn’t quite finished with Walt however, as he grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him close enough so that Walt could feel Tuco’s breath on his face. Walt in turn, resisted the urge to shut his eyes or turn his face away.

“You try and pull something like that again, I’ll blow you’re fucking head off,” Tuco warned darkly. Walt did not doubt Tuco’s threat in the slightest.

Eventually, Tuco let go of him, shoving him so hard that Walt’s back collided with the wall.

He let out a deep breath, pressing back against it for support.

“Give me your wallet,” Tuco ordered, and doing what he was told, his hands shaking slightly, Walt took it out of his pants pocket and handed it to him.

Snatching it out of his grasp, Tuco began looking through its contents until he came across his I.D. “Walter Hartwell White,” Tuco said, reading it out loud. “I thought you said your name is Heisenberg!”

“Heisenberg is a pseudonym. It’s like an alias,” Walt explained when Tuco looked confused.

The man snorted, taking out whatever money was in it before tossing the wallet across the room. “Well, you won’t be needing this were you’re going, _Walter Hartwell White_.”

Given that Tuco seemed to think Heisenberg had been his actual name, Walt wondered somewhat despairingly if he had been quicker thinking, if he had shown Tuco his I.D. when he came to the door if he could have convinced him that he wasn’t Heisenberg; that there had been some sort of mix-up.

Then again, from the sadistic glee Tuco had shown when he had intended on executing Jesse, there was the chance he would have just up and shot him right there and then out of pure anger and frustration simply due to Walt not being the man he had been looking for.

“Come on, we’re leaving now,” said Tuco, awakening Walt from his thoughts. He grabbed Walt’s jacket from the coatrack and shoved it into his arms. “I’ve already stayed in this shithole for way too long,” he added with a look of disgust, glancing around as if to emphasize this point.

Walt froze. He had been so relieved that he wasn’t about to be shot and killed that he had completely neglected the fact that he was about to be kidnapped and taken someplace far away from here. But perhaps even more significant than being forcibly relocated, was the fact that he would undoubtedly never see his family ever again.

This wasn’t supposed to happen, thought Walt, feeling completely helpless. All he had ever intended was to cook just enough meth to be able to pay for his medical bills and provide his family with enough money to live on when he passed when the cancer finally consumed him. Being held at gunpoint and kidnapped by some unhinged stranger certainly hadn’t been part of his plan. Of course, the DEA raid on the warehouse hadn’t factored into either, and while nerve-wracking at the time, was now something that Walt considered to be a blessing in disguise. Not only because it had allowed him to meet Jesse, a person he had come to care for quite a bit in such a short period of time, but also because the more he had thought about it, the more he had come to realise that it was unlikely that the Salamanca’s would simply let him walk away from their arrangement; Tuco showing up with the intention to take him against his will being case in point.

His main concerns had been with law enforcement; that after the raid, someone would expose him as being the Salamanca’s meth cook in exchange for a reduced sentence and that the DEA would subsequently show up here arrest him. That was at least until Jesse had reassured him that there was no way any of the people on the Salamanca family’s payroll would collaborate willingly with the DEA due to the stigma of being branded a rat and consequences it would mean for them. Jesse, however, despite working for them, was seemingly unconcerned about this, the boy having threatened to turn him in if Walt didn’t allow him to stay at the cabin until his ribs had healed – which Walt supposed, had admittedly been partly his fault.

Of course, as they grew closer, Walt realised that it was rather unlikely that Jesse would actually turn him in. Not because he was too frightened to go to the DEA, but that like Walt, Jesse had come to enjoy his company. And with their friendship, – albeit a rather strange one cemented – the worry of police officers suddenly showing up and banging on his door became all but a distant fear.

Meanwhile, he felt utterly foolish for not even considering the possibility that someone from the Salamanca family who knew of him might still be out there; that not everyone involved in their operation hadn’t conveniently been taken into custody during the warehouse raid.

Walt had allowed himself to be lulled into a false sense of security, and now because of his naivety, here he was paying the price, never to lay eyes on his family or to be able to hold his precious baby daughter in his arms ever again

God, Holly wasn’t even one yet, and now he would be out of her life forever. At one point he had expected this to be a matter of course, back when he had resigned himself to death. For Walt, his cancer treatment had been only a formality really, a way to indulge his family. This mainly extended to Skyler who had been completely against Walt’s wishes of not having any treatment. And then, once he started to play along, she absolutely convinced that the treatment would work.

Much to Walt’s shock, it turned out she was right.

At the time he had been more conflicted than thankful for his extended lease on life – and even more so when Skyler learned his secret and asked for a divorce – but he had at least been happy to be able to have the chance to see Holly reach her first birthday, and hopefully quite a few more if he was lucky and the cancer didn’t return. It also meant he would be able to watch as his son finally grew into a young man.

Now, however, while he wasn’t about to die, he was once again to be denied the chance to witness any of these milestones events.

From now on, his life would be one of servitude to the Salamanca family, working as their meth cook. And he was rather sure that his newfound existence wouldn’t allow for the permittance of visiting his family every other week.

Living separately from them had been painful enough; something he had only just been able to start coming to terms with, and now this…

“Move it, Heisenberg! I haven’t got all day!” snapped Tuco.

As the man made his way towards him, Walt found himself asking, “Tuco. How…How exactly did you find me?” He knew he should probably keep quiet, aware that anything he said could easily ignite Tuco’s already incredibly short fuse and set him off again. But the question was gnawing at him. After all, he had never told Tuco’s uncle where he stayed, neither the address of his old house or the location of his cabin. Although, he supposed it wouldn’t exactly be out with the realms of possibility to believe that Hector Salamanca had had him followed at some point. Nevertheless, what Tuco had said when he had first shown up at Walt’s door had made it sound as if he has been searching for ‘Heisenberg’ for at least the better part of a month, which of course had Walt wondering just how exactly he had suddenly been able to track him down now after all that time.

Had Tuco simply got lucky? There were no other houses for miles and Walt had barely left the cabin these past several weeks so what had –

And then it clicked.

Tuco smirked, seemingly able to surmise that Walt had put two and two together.

“I went to the city yesterday. You…You must have saw me there then.”

“Actually, it was a guy I know who spotted you. Owed me a favour and knew I’d been looking for you, so he tipped me off. Pretty lucky right?” Tuco explained, sounding stupidly pleased, “He tracked you back to your car and then got in his own and started tailing you.”

This surprised Walt, having no idea he had been followed at all, either on foot or by car. The man who had been trailing him must have been rather discreet. That or Walt had just been too distracted to notice. His attention had mainly been focused on Jesse after all.

Tuco let out a groan. “Still, that frickin idiot had to turn back part way cause his car was running out of gas and he didn’t wanna get stuck outside the city in the snow. Seriously, like that’s a big fucking deal or something! I had to teach him a lesson for being such a pussy. If he had actually bothered to follow your old ass back here, I might have known you had a fucking mutt living with you. I could have put that _little bitch_ down the second I walked through the door.”

Walt felt anger well of inside of him upon hearing this, having to quickly reminded himself that despite Tuco’s callous intentions, Jesse had managed to get away safely. Or at least that’s what Walt hoped was the case.

“So, you drove out to where he told you he’d gotten to and wound up here,” Walt surmised, morosely.  

“Yeah. It was the first thing I came across,” Tuco confirmed smugly. It was unsurprising, again given that there were no other houses around here. Tuco’s guy therefore must have at least gotten far enough to reach the road that led to here.

For the first time, Walt found himself regretting that he hadn’t chosen a more remote location for exile…

In the end, Walt he only conclude that Tuco tracking him down had all came down to simple case of chance. After all, if Jesse hadn’t gotten the job at that convenience store, there would have been no real reason for the both them to go into the city yesterday, their primary motivation having been so Jesse could acquire some new clothes for starting there. And of course, if they hadn’t had went, Tuco’s guy wouldn’t have spotted Walt, and subsequently both he and Jesse would be safe, probably sat contentedly together on the sofa just as they had been before Tuco had shown up and ruined everything.

Walt repressed a sigh, aware that it was useless to think in such a manner. Tuco would no doubt have tracked him down eventually. And the circumstances that had led to him finding Walt weren’t bad in themselves; the exact opposite actually. After all, Jesse had finally found himself a job that didn’t require him to break the law and work under people who hated him, making the boy incredibly happy and in turn making Walt pleased for him.

Furthermore, as a result of Jesse getting the job, the whole proximity factor of Jesse having to live somewhere reasonably nearby to be able to actually get to his new place of work had given Walt the perfect reason – or perhaps excuse – to relay the offer to Jesse to continue living with him for longer; something that the boy had happily accepted.

Nevertheless, Walt still couldn’t help but wish he had had that bit more time to spend with the younger man, having truly enjoying the past six weeks together. He also wished he had had the chance to say a proper goodbye, both to Jesse and his family.

While Walt reflected on all of this, Tuco’s impatience had returned and brusquely he grabbed a hold of Walt’s arm, yanking him forward.

“Get going already, old man!”

Tuco moved behind Walt, and lifting his gun, pressed it against Walt’s back. “You better not try anything,” Tuco hissed, and with that threat, Walt was marched outside, the cold breeze hitting him. He repressed a shudder, his coat still held in his arms, but he didn’t dare stop to try and put it on.

Tuco retained a painful grip on his arm, but really Walt felt that the gun resting against him provided more than enough of a reason for him not to try a futile attempt of escaping. After all, while Jesse’s speed had allowed him to dodge the bullets fired at him as he had fled from Tuco – although it had certainly been close – Walt knew for certain that he would not be so fortunate.

It didn’t help either that he was still feeling somewhat woozy due to Tuco hitting him with his gun earlier.

“Move it!” Tuco shouted once again, tightening his grip on his arm when he momentarily staggered. Walt winced, Tuco’s fingers digging painfully into his skin.

Glancing downwards, Walt noticed fresh footprints in the snow, one’s approaching the cabin and another pair who he believed belonged to Jesse, leading away from it. While the snow would soon fade away – spring had been slow in arriving this year – enough of it still remained on the ground that Walt could make out the indents of footprints. From the looks of it, Jesse had run into the surrounding woods, and with the speed he possessed, had probably been able to put a decent amount of distance between himself and the madman trying to kill him.

Walt, meanwhile, remained in said man’s company. And while he was thankful that Jesse had escaped, he partly wished that the boy was still with him. It was Jesse that had provided Walt with his courage after all; Walt unable to fathom ever tackling a crazed man with a gun in quite any other circumstance, to put his life on the line with barely a second thought.

Walt had wanted to protect the boy. And in that, he supposed he had exceeded. He just couldn’t help lamenting everything else he was about to lose.

Tuco hadn’t parked right outside. The car was however close enough that it was visible from the cabin, and the closer they came to it; the deeper and deeper Walt’s dread grew.

The car, unlike Tuco himself, was completely inconspicuous, bland even. And although he barely knew Tuco, Walt found it difficult to believe that he would willingly choose to drive a car such as this, leading him to surmise that the man had likely stolen it. Even, if not a fancy brand, at the very, Tuco probably drove one of those awfully ridiculous cars that bounced up and down, which from what Walt could tell was for no real discernible purpose.

While, undoubtably unhinged, Tuco had made the smart decision of choosing a getaway vehicle that was less likely to arouse the suspicion of law enforcement. Although, like most things today, Walt doubted Tuco was very happy about it.

Once they reached the car, Tuco briefly let go of Walt’s arm to unlock the door of the driver’s seat. The gun however, remained pressed against him.

Walt was unsure if Tuco would make him sit in the back of the car or have him next to him in the front to keep an eye on him – not that Walt would be able to do much of anything regardless of where he sat. What Walt hadn’t expected was to be led around to the back of the car and have Tuco open the trunk and order him to get in.

Walt, stood there, looking incredulous upon hearing what was being demanded of him. Surely, Tuco didn’t really expect him to climb in there did he?

“Tuco, you can’t be-”

“I said get the fuck in!” Tuco yelled, giving him a harsh push, in turn Walt’s elbow to whack against the open trunk.

Wincing, Walt stared down at the inside of the trunk, something which in most other situations could be considered a decent size. Now, however, while Walt wasn’t exactly claustrophobic, the sudden prospect of being forced into and trapped there for God knows how long, made it appear frighteningly small.

“Tuco, please,” Walt began, gently cradling his elbow.

Tuco shoved his gun in Walt’s face. “D’you think I want to drive the entire way across the border with this pointed at you just to keep your bitch-ass in line, huh!?”

 “Tuco, I promise I won’t try anything. I mean, what could I possibly do?”

“I don’t give a shit!” Tuco retorted, “Get in, already!”

“I-I’ll freeze in there,” Walt tried to explain. “This…My jacket won’t be enough to keep me warm through the journey. I’ll get sick again. I’ve just barely recently gone into remission from lung cancer. Not to mention, I just recovered from a bout of the flu a couple of days ago. So…well, it just wouldn’t be wise for me to be cooped up in there for any length of time.”

While he doubted that he really would freeze provided the engine was running and car radiator was on, the ride would still be an incredibly unpleasant experience. And although it wouldn’t change his current predicament or ultimate destination in the slightest, the trip would at least be somewhat more bearable.

“Wouldn’t be wise, huh?” said Tuco, echoing his words. From the look on his face, Walt thought it almost seemed like Tuco was actually considering his words. As such, for a brief hopeful moment, Walt considered that the man may actually relent from forcing him into car trunk like some piece of luggage – although he supposed to Tuco that’s all he really was.

Taking a step backwards, his gun still pointed at Walt, Tuco smirked as he opened one of the back doors. “Good thing, the guy I jacked this piece of shit car from has a blanket in the back. You should be fine with that, right, _Walter_?”

Walt didn’t answer, Tuco clearlt determined to punish him, and Walt just didn’t have the energy to fight against him anymore.

“You better not move a fucking inch,” Tuco warned, as he lowered his gun, so he could retrieve the blanket from inside the car.

Things looked utterly hopeless. Honestly, what chance did he have now?

Defying Tuco’s warning of not moving an inch, Walt took a moment and turned his head back to look at the cabin for one final time. While, he would have rather that the old family home he had shared with his wife and son for the past sixteen years be the last thing he saw of this place before he was whisked away, he supposed that this worked as well. Especially as he had experienced his happiest moments in what felt like a very long time whilst there.

Resigning himself to his fate, Walt heard a loud yell and from what seemed like out of nowhere, someone suddenly rushed past, less than two feet in front of him. Walt took a startled step back as the figure rammed not into him, but into Tuco just as the man had been about to climb back out of the car.

“The fuck!?” Walt heard Tuco yell in shock as both he and the person who tackled him stumbled through the open door and into the back seat of the car.

Walt stood there, his mouth agape in shock. Gradually he came to his senses and hurried forward in the hope of understanding what the hell was happening. What he saw as he peered in was a frantic struggle playing out in front of him between Tuco and –

Walt’s eyes widened as soon as he realised just who that person was.

“Jesse!” he shouted, completely stunned. What in the hell was the boy doing back here? He had escaped, hadn’t he? Had managed to get away.

“Jesse, why are you-”

“Run!” Jesse cried, before Walt got the chance to finish.

“I’ll try and keep him here so go!” Jesse urged, turning his head to look at him. He had a determined look in his eyes, but Walt noted that he was breathing heavily as he struggled desperately to keep Tuco pinned beneath him.

Walt couldn’t believe it. Jesse had actually come back for him; was fighting against the monster who had almost killed him to allow Walt a chance to get away

Just as Walt had done for Jesse earlier, Jesse was now doing for him.

“Walt!” Jesse cried, awakening him from his thoughts. “Run! Get to your car!”

Quickly Walt reached into his left coat pocket, shovelling his hand around until he found his car keys. It could work. His car was parked right next to the cabin and with Tuco distracted, he could run towards it, climb in and drive as far away as possible.

‘But then, where would that leave Jesse?’ Tuco had already tried to kill the pup once, and Walt doubted he would fail again. Also, wasn’t this the second time Jesse had tried to help him today, having ran out of the bedroom to Walt’s aid when he had heard the click of Tuco’s gun.

If he headed back to the cabin, he could call for help; phone the police, or even Hank.

But they would never make it in time, his mind immediately supplied. By the arrived, Jesse, and likely himself too, would be–

“I’ll fucking kill you!” screamed Tuco. Walt’s head darted upwards as he witnessed Jesse being propelled backwards out of the car, landing harshly against the ground on his back. Jesse was much lither than Tuco. He could out run him certainly, but there was no way he could possibly match him when it came to strength.

“Jesse!” cried Walt, but before he had time to rush to Jesse’s aid, Tuco was emerging from the car, burning with white-hot rage.  

Looking terrified, Jesse began crawling backwards on his elbows in a vain attempt to escape. “No!” he cried as Tuco stood over him.

“You little bitch!”

Jesse gasped loudly as Tuco kicked him violently in the stomach.

The boy began to curl onto his side, clutching his gut. And a moment later, Tuco was on top of him, grabbing Jesse’s shoulder and shoving him on to his back again.

“Please!” Jesse begged.

“You’re dead!” Tuco declared as he raised his fist before launching it at Jesse’s face, Jesse crying out as it hit him.

Without thinking, once again, Walt found himself charging at Tuco, managing to grasp a hold of him before he was able to land a second blow. Instead of using his gun, he seemed to have elected to use the brute force of his fists to kill Jesse.

Desperately Walt attempted to pull him off the younger man, but Tuco was far stronger than him, and rising up was able to shake Walt off of him with relative ease.

“Get off of me!” he shouted, shoving at Walt.

Walt tumbled several steps backwards, landing on his ass.

“Tuco, stop!” yelled Walt, for all the good it would actually do.

Tuco shot him a furious look before returning his attention back to Jesse, who was attempting once again to crawl away.

He caught a hold of Jesse’s foot and dragging him back, proceeded to trap the boy’s thin frame between his thighs. “Get the fuck back here! You ain’t getting away this time, you little prick!” Jesse tried feebly to push him off, to no avail.

“I should tear these things off your fucking head!” Tuco screamed as he grabbed a hold of Jesse’s ears and started to yank brutally at them.

Jesse let out a howl of pain as Tuco’s fingers dug into his head.

“Jesse!” Walt called out, feeling absolutely powerless. If only he had some kind of a weapon, Walt thought helplessly. He could at least –

And just like that, he was struck by an idea.

Spinning his head around, he spotted the tree trunk in the distance, and getting to his feet, started to run as quickly as he possibly could towards it.

There embedded in the wood was the axe he had used earlier that day to chop some firewood. Gritting his teeth, Walt wrapped his hands around the axe’s handle and yanked it out. And with it in his grasp, he started to sprint back towards the two warring figures on the ground.

As Walt approached he saw that Tuco was no longer attempting to rip the poor pup’s ears from his head, but that instead, his hands had moved downwards, now coiled tightly around Jesse’s slender neck. Jesse struggled helplessly beneath the larger man, his legs flailing out frenziedly as he tried in vain to pry his attacker’s hands apart, his eyes opened wide.

Pure fury engulfed Walt as he witnessed this. And, moving right behind Tuco, the man unaware of his presence, Walt used all his strength to raise the axe before slamming it down with as much momentum as he could muster.

Tuco let out a piercing scream as the blade of the axe connected with his shoulder, penetrating through the skin with ease.

Tuco’s hands immediately loosened from Jesse’s neck, his back contorting upwards as he howled in agony. Walt was unable to help but feel somewhat triumphant.

“What the fuck!?” Tuco yelled as he slanted his head to see the axe sticking out of him.

Jesse meanwhile, whilst still trapped beneath him, was now free of Tuco’s stranglehold. Walt eyes darted back to him, the boy coughing heavily as his hand hovered over his throat as he struggled to regain his breath.

Determined to end this once and for all, Walt started to tug the axe out hoping that with one more swing he could incapacitate Tuco enough that he and Jesse could escape to safety. But to his surprise the axe wouldn’t budged.

He started to yank it again, but strangely it felt even heavier than just moments before, as if there was an additional weight weighing it down.

Frowning, Walt’s eyes glanced from Jesse to Tuco and to his horror saw that Tuco with his spine and shoulders twisted into an awkward and painful-looking position, had been able to grasp a hold of the handle just above the axe’s blade. It was made even more startling by the fact that the man was then able to get to his feet in spite of the axe still entrenched in his shoulder.

With his eyes burning with an intense hatred for Walt, abruptly he attempted to wrench the axe out. The suddenness of the action along with the blood trickling down the handle from Tuco’s open wound caused Walt to lose his grip on it.

“I’ll fucking kill you for this!” Tuco screamed with a rage the likes of which Walt had never heard before. No matter how great the quality of the meth he cooked or how much money Walt could make for him no longer mattered to Tuco, the man appearing fully intent on enacting his revenge on Walt for daring to defy him and fight back.

And now, with the axe in his hand, Tuco began stalking towards Walt. He was clearly in a lot of pain, his free hand cradling his wounded shoulder awkwardly. Despite this, it didn’t seem to be slowing him down in the slightest, making Walt think of some awful creature in a horror movie he had watched as a young boy, intent on killing its target no matter what.

Fear filled Walt as he took several tentative steps backwards, unable to tear his eyes away from the monster fast approaching him.

Just as he was about to turn and run away, his foot collided with a large rock jutting out of the ground behind him. Walt quickly lost his balance as he stumbled backwards over it.

Walt groaned, it taking him more than a few moments to regain his bearings. Pressing his hands against the ground, he meant to push himself back, but it was too late. Tuco was standing right in front of Walt, towering over him.

Walt opened his mouth only to quickly close it. There would be no use in begging he knew.

“I’m gonna cut you into so many fucking pieces, Heisenberg!” Tuco declared manically, as he slowly lifted the axe up, “And after that, I’m gonna feed you to your piece of shit mutt before I slice the hell out of him too!”

This was it.

‘Skyler. Junior. Holly. Jesse… God, I’m so sorry.’  Walt thought, shutting his eyes tight as he prepared for the inevitable.  ‘I love all of you. I –’

But in place of the agonising pain he was bracing himself for, instead he heard a loud bang.

It almost sounded like a –

Walt’s eyes shot back open. Tuco was still standing over him with the axe in his hand, but there, in the middle of his chest, was a small hole that hadn’t been there moments before.

Walt looked on, transfixed as blood started to ooze from it, when another shot fired out.

The arm holding the weapon went limp and slipping from Tuco’s fingers, the axe landed on the ground with a small thud.

“Fuck…”

Tuco collapsed to his knees, and Walt quickly crawled backwards several paces. The man’s body tumbled forward, landing face down on the ground right where Walt had just lay.

Walt stared disbelieving at Tuco’s motionless form for several long moments, trying to register what had happened before eventually coming back to himself.

‘Jesse!’ he thought panicked, tearing his eyes away from Tuco. Was the boy okay?

When he looked over he saw Jesse standing there next to Tuco’s car, a gun in his hand.

It had been Jesse who had shot Tuco, the gun he was holding undoubtedly belonging to the man. Tuco must have dropped it when Jesse had tackled him earlier, and whilst he was being attacked, Jesse had wisely used the time to grab a hold of it.

The boy had saved his life.

Feeling an indescribable sense of relief, he was about to call over to Jesse, when he noticed how absolutely distraught Jesse looked; the gun he was holding still aimed at Tuco’s body, as if he fully expected him to get back up and continue attacking them.

“Jesse…”

Eventually, Jesse registered Walt and their eyes met.

“Walt,” said Jesse, so quietly that Walt could barely hear him.  

The boy’s face started to crumble, and Walt watched as he collapsed to his knees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait in updating. Hope this chapter was alright. Writing anything remotely action-y is not my strong suit. At the very least, the next chapter should involve lots of comfort to make up for the hurt. 
> 
> As always, thanks very much for reading. Comments and kudos are much appreciated. :)


	17. Chapter 17

The moment Jesse’s legs gave out from under him, Walt immediately got up and rushed towards the boy.

“Jesse!” he called out, quickly falling onto his knees in front of him. “Are you okay?” Walt asked his voice ripe with concern as he reached out and grasped Jesse by the shoulders.

Jesse didn’t reply however, his breathing ragged and his eyes closed shut while his ears were pressed down flat against his head. Walt could feel the younger man trembling beneath his hands, Jesse’s fingers still wrapped tightly around the handle of Tuco’s gun.

Walt started to panic, the brief moment of reprieve he had experienced from Tuco no longer being a threat replaced with worry. Jesse was clearly in a state of shock, something which Walt couldn’t blame him for given the awful and brutal beating he had just taken, not to mention that he would have likely been strangled to death had Walt not interfered.

“Jesse!” he yelled, reaching out and cusping Jesse’s face between his hands so that Jesse was forced to look directly at him.

Jesse’s eyes fluttered open. “Wa-Walt?” he spoke hesitantly, slowly coming back to himself.

“Yes, son, it’s me,” Walt answered softly, immense relief rushing through him.

“What’s hap-” Jesse halted in his question, his hunched back straightening as things seemed to come rushing back to him. “Tuco!” Jesse cried, “Are you okay!?” And then glancing around frantically, raising the gun that was in his hands asked, “Where-Where is he?!”

“It’s fine! I’m fine,” Walt quickly reassured, and while he leant back from the raised gun in Jesse’s hands, he continued holding Jesse’s cheeks between his hands.

Jesse meanwhile didn’t look like he believed him, his face a portrait of fear and worry. “Tuco, he’s no longer a threat. I promise. He’s…”  Walt trailed off. While he was about to tell Jesse of the man’s demise, the truth was he had no idea if Tuco, despite witnessing him being shot, was dead or not, having rushed to Jesse’s side not long after Tuco’s body had fell to the ground in front of him. And while he knew he should turn around and check, he couldn’t quite bring himself to do so.

Still, having being shot straight through the chest, it was very likely that he was in fact-

“He was going to hurt you, so I shot him,” said Jesse as if confirming this fact for himself, staring down at the gun in his hands.

This in the very least, Walt could confirm. He nodded. “Yes. And in doing so, you saved my life, Jesse,” he said gratefully, gently circling Jesse’s cheek with his thumb.

Jesse’s eyes flickered back from the gun to Walt’s face. He gave him small smile, his ears perking up slightly before he let out a soft hiss.

“Are you okay?” Walt asked worriedly, letting go of Jesse’s face as the boy reached for his left ear.

Walt swallowed seeing this, recalling how Tuco had yanked harshly at Jesse’s ears, threatening to rip them right off of the poor pup’s head.

“Your ears, are they…”

“They’re fine,” answered Jesse, rubbing at it.

Walt despaired, recalling the savage and cruel way Tuco had beat Jesse. Furthermore, from what he had said, it seemed that it wasn’t the first time Jesse had been at the receiving end of Tuco’s fists either. And to think that there were people out there who considered Jesse to be the animal…

“Let me have a look,” said Walt, shuffling closer, his knees soggy and wet from the snow lingering on the ground. “Lower you head.”

“They’re fine,” Jesse repeated with a small sigh. Nevertheless, he did what Walt asked and bent his head down. Leaning over, Walt tentatively began to examine the ear, brushing away at his hair to get a better look. Walt wasn’t exactly sure what it was he was looking for but thankfully neither it nor Jesse’s head didn’t seem to be bleeding.

His right ear appeared alright – at least on the outside – as well. Softly, Walt ran his finger over the top of it. Jesse’s ears rising up again as if reacting to Walt’s touch.

“Why, son? Why did you come back?” Walt couldn’t stop himself from asking as he pulled his hand back. He remembered being so shocked when he realised that the person who had appeared out of nowhere and lunged at Tuco just as he had been about to be forced into the trunk of that stolen car, was in fact Jesse. With the boy’s speed, by that point Walt had expected Jesse to be a good distance away, and as such, subsequently out of danger as well.

Jesse raised his head and looking over at Walt. He wore a confused expression of his face. “What do you mean?”

“You got away. You were safe,” said Walt, anger beginning to well up inside him the more he thought about the ordeal. He had thrown himself at a madman with a gun just so Jesse could get to safety after all, and instead Jesse had come running quite literally back into harm’s way.

“Yeah, but –”

“Tuco, he shot at you! Tried to kill you! I don’t understand what in the world you were thinking coming back!” Walt exclaimed, yelling now.

Jesse looked momentarily taken aback, before narrowing his eyes. “Seriously? One minute, you’re telling me I saved your life, now you’re all pissed at me for it?”

“It was stupid and reckless,” Walt argued, “You should have stayed away.”

“Yeah, well, I’m so sorry for wanting to try and stop that psycho from kidnapping you and forcing you to cook meth for him!” Jesse shot back angrily “I’m sure you’d have been so fucking happy being the Salamanca family’s bitch for the rest of your life!”

“Jesse, that’s not –”

“Anyway, what about you, huh? I told you to run to your car and drive away but instead you–”

Jesse didn’t get the chance to finish however at he broke into a coughing fit. Doubling over, he wrapped his arms around himself, causing him to drop the gun he had still being holding on to.

“Jesse!” cried Walt, panic rearing its head once again.

“Easy, son. Easy,” he urged, taking a hold of Jesse’s arms to keep him upright and steady.

When Jesse’s coughing finally subsided, Walt felt his heart break just from looking at the boy. There were tears streaming down Jesse’s face from his bloodshot eyes, one of which was already starting to bruise from where Tuco had punched him. As Walt’s eyes moved downwards he noticed the reddish marks from the intents of Tuco’s fingers from pressing into Jesse’s throat as he had attempted to choke him.

Seeing this, Walt was suddenly overcome with guilt. After all, he was the one who Tuco had really been after, and yet Jesse had been the one to pay for it. Sure Tuco had whacked him on the head with his gun – which like Jesse’s eye was likely to leave a bruise – as well as forcibly manhandled him, but it had been Jesse who had received the brunt of the man’s rage. And all because he had wanted to protect Walt. To save him.

It hadn’t just been when he had bowled into Tuco at the car either. Even though Tuco had suspected that there was someone in the bedroom and thus took out his gun to threaten Walt, Jesse had nevertheless come rushing out to his aid the moment he had heard the trigger click when he could have so easily instead climbed through the bedroom window and ran away to safety.

Not only had Jesse refused to abandon him; he had actively protected him as well. And because of that, the poor boy had paid the price.

Walt opened his mouth to say something but no words came out, unsure exactly what he could say that would possibly make up for what Jesse had just gone through..

“Yo, are you really that pissed off at me?” asked Jesse, and although his voice was hoarse from the coughing, Walt could make out the hurt there; just as Walt’s anger had, Jesse’s having subsided and being replaced with something else.

“No! God. Jesse. No,” Walt quickly replied as he lifted his hands from Jesse’s arms and placed them on his shoulders, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I’m mad but not…not at you, okay? Believe me. I’m just…I’m angry that you got hurt is all,” he admitted, “And I’m angry at myself because I’m the reason why you were.”

Walt sighed. “I’m sorry, Jesse. I’m sorry you got tangled up in this mess.”

“What are you talking about it? It’s not your fault!” argued Jesse, “It was that prick Tuco who did this. He’s the one who…” Jesse stopped suddenly, trailing off.

A wave of emotions washed over Jesse’s face.

“Jesse?” Walt prompted, giving Jesse’s shoulders a light squeeze.

“Shit. Is he…Is Tuco really dead?” Jesse asked in an incredibly small voice, “I mean, did I really…”

“I…I think so,” Walt answered tentatively, knowing that what Jesse was really asking was if _he_ had killed the man. Again, Walt wasn’t one hundred percent sure, the only way to truly know being to go over and actually examine the body lying on the ground.

That however, seemed like the least appealing thing in the entire world. But he needed confirmation. Needed to be sure that Tuco was no longer a threat either to him or to Jesse.

“Walt?” Jesse questioned as Walt began to slowly get to his feet. He couldn’t help but grimace as he did so. From having being pushed to the ground several times that day, as well as having skidded down on his knees in front of Jesse in his desperation to make sure he was okay, both his knees and legs were killing him.

“I’ll be back in a moment. I’m just going to go over and have a look,” he told Jesse. But as he made to turn and walk away, Jesse swiftly reached out and grasped a hold of his pants leg.

“Wait!”

Walt startled, still on edge from everything. “Jesse, I’ll–”

“You can’t!” Jesse yelled, sounding terrified, “He could hurt you again! I mean, Tuco still might be-”

Walt cut Jesse off, placing a hand on top of the pup’s head. “I’ll be fine,” he said, gazing down at Jesse. “You shot him, remember? Even if he is somehow still alive, there’s no way he could harm me right now.” Then again, thought Walt, when he had struck that axe into Tuco’s shoulder, while he had been successful in getting him to stop his assault on Jesse, he definitely hadn’t expected the man to get up, pull the axe out of his own flesh and then come at him with it. He supposed in that regard, he couldn’t blame Jesse for being so fearful over him getting so close to Tuco, incapitated or not.

“I guess,” replied Jesse, letting go of his pants.

He gave Jesse’s head a small rub, and with his hand still resting atop of it, Jesse began to stand up.

Wincing slightly at he did so, one hand over his stomach, he said, “I’ll come with you.”

“Jesse, you don’t need to. I’ll be –”

Jesse shook his head vigorously. “There’s no way I’m letting you go near that psycho piece of shit by yourself,” Jesse told him resolutely.

“Alright then,” replied Walt, repressing a small smile, knowing that from the determination in Jesse’s voice that there would be absolutely no arguing with him.

Quickly Jesse bend back down and picked up the gun before holding it out to Walt. “Here. Just…Just in case, you know?”

With a small nod Walt took it, and as he did so, it occurred to him that it was the first time he had ever held a gun before. He wondered if before today Jesse had ever held a gun either, let alone having actually fired one.

With it now in his hand and Jesse following closely behind, tentatively they started to approach the man who just ten minutes previous had tried to kidnap – at least in Walt’s case – and then murder them both.

Taking a deep breath, Walt crouched down beside Tuco, trying to ignore the ache in his knees. Given how he had fallen, Tuco was now lying face down in the ground. Walt surmised that it would probably be best to turn him over on to his back before checking for a pulse.

His hands shaking slightly, just as he about to reach out and move him, Jesse called out for him to stop.

“Wait!”

“Jesse, I’m just going to –”

“You don’t need to.” Jesse spoke quietly, staring down at Tuco from where he stood. “He’s…He’s dead.”

“How do you know?” Walt asked, curiously.

Jesse adverted his eyes. “I can smell it. People when they die, they smell different from when they were…” Again, Jesse trailed off, and as was the case the previous day, there was shame in Jesse’s voice.

“I see,” Walt replied simply. Given that Jesse had been able to track him down easily enough in a city with a million different smells in the air just the day before, Walt wasn’t about to doubt the pup’s incredible sense of smell. Nevertheless, he still wanted to be absolutely sure, and so inching in closer, with the gun still in his hand, he pushed Tuco – or rather, at this point he supposed ‘body’ would be more apt if he really was dead – over on to his back.

Walt quickly took a hunched step back from his crouched position, fearful that Tuco would suddenly rise up and attack him; just the sort of thing that would happen in those movies he watched throughout his childhood.

His fear was quelled however as Tuco remained unmoving; a clear sign that he was dead being the unnatural expression on his face, his eyes only half-closed and mouth hanging limply open. Moving in for a closer look, Walt noticed that one of Tuco’s front teeth was severely chipped; no doubt from the impact of hitting the ground. Both his shirt and jacket were covered in blood as was the snow covered ground where he had fallen.

As gruesome a sight as it was, Walt found himself flooded with immediate relief.

It was over. Tuco was dead; no longer a threat to them. Both he and Jesse were finally safe.

Truly Walt had no idea what he would have done had he found Tuco still alive and breathing. It certainly wasn’t as if he could have taken him to a hospital after all. Not that he would have wanted to of course after everything he had put both him and Jesse through.

“It’s over now, Jesse. We’re safe.” said Walt, letting out a small laugh in his relief.

Jesse took a couple of steps forward before stopping and gazing down at the body on the ground. He didn’t say anything for a while, instead simply staring down at it intently.

“He’s dead. I did it… I really killed him,” Jesse spoke eventually, sounding as if he couldn’t at all believe it.

“Jesse, are you okay?” Walt asked, concerned. He had expected Jesse to be a little happier about the outcome; to know that Tuco was no longer going to be coming after them.

“He’s really dead,” was all Jesse said as if he hadn’t at all heard Walt’s question.  

Lowering his head Jesse turned away from both the body and from Walt.

Frowning, Walt struggled back up on to his feet. “Jesse, what’s the matter?” he tried again. But the pup offered no response.

He could see that the younger man was trembling and after several moments he heard a loud sob escape Jesse’s lips.

Jesse was crying, visibly distraught. Was it the trauma from everything that had just happened? The boy had almost just died after all. Or perhaps it was from seeing Tuco’s body lying there lifelessly on the ground? It wasn’t exactly something a person witnessed every day, so it made sense for him to be disturbed, and given that he had been the one to…

And then suddenly it struck him. Although both he and Jesse were no longer in harms way and through Jesse’s actions had both been saved, Jesse had still shot and killed a man. Tuco had been a monster, sure, but perhaps for Jesse that didn’t change the fact that he had just murder another human being.

Walt quickly regretted turning the body over; for not ordering Jesse to stay put while he went over to investigate. After everything Jesse had been through, it was definitely something he hadn’t needed to see.

His heart aching and desperately wanting to comfort the boy, Walt tossed the gun in his hand carefully aside before reaching out and placing a hand on Jesse’s shoulder.

He gave it a light squeeze, hoping to coax Jesse to turn around. “Jesse, please look at me.”

Slowly Jesse did so, his head still hung low.

“Jesse. It’s okay,” Walt said softly, reaching down and gently cupping Jesse’s cheek, “You did what you had to do. You saw how enraged he was. Tuco would have killed us both. Like I said before, you really did save my life. Honestly if you hadn’t shot Tuco when you had then–”

Walt, however, didn’t get the chance to finish as Jesse suddenly lunged at him almost causing him to topple over.

“Je-Jesse!”

“I was so scared!” Jesse cried out, clutching desperately at the front of Walt’s shirt, burrowing his head against his chest.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, son,” Walt said, wrapping his arms securely around Jesse’s trembling form.

“I-I thought that I…”

“It’s okay, Jesse. We’re safe now. Tuco, he can’t hurt you anymore. He’s-”

“I thought that I lost you! That I would never see you again!” declared Jesse, through choked sobs, his voice muffled against his neck. “He was gonna take you away from m- He was going to take you away from here forever! I wanted to try and stop him…”

Walt’s eyes widened in disbelief. Jesse distress and sudden outburst wasn’t because of the hurt and trauma he had just endured, neither was it because he had killed someone – who admittedly had very much deserved it – or almost being killed himself, but instead it was the thought of losing Walt that upset him so much.

Jesse had risked his life to stop that from happening, even when knowing how violent Tuco was from a previous encounter with the man. Even when Tuco had both threatened and attempted to murder him; he had come rushing back for him. Walt was being kidnapped but provided he did what Tuco told him and cooked meth for him, his life wasn’t in any immediate danger. Still, that alone had been enough to spur Jesse into action, to put his very life on the line just so…

Walt immediately pulled the pup closer, wrapping his arms around Jesse as tightly as he possibly could.

As tears started to well up in his eyes Walt raised his hand and cupped the back of Jesse’s head. “It’s okay, Jesse. Tuco’s gone. It’s all over now,” he said soothingly, stroking Jesse’s hair, “I’m not going anywhere. I promise. You have absolutely nothing to worry about, you hear me?”

He felt Jesse nod against his neck, the younger man continuing to cling to him.

They remained standing like that for a good while, Jesse’s body warm against Walt’s. Walt hadn’t had time to put his jacket on before everything had kicked off, but the boy’s body was currently providing him with more than enough heat. And for a strange and brief moment, Walt found himself wishing that that he wasn’t even wearing a shirt, wanting to feel the heat of Jesse’s skin against his own; to have Jesse nestled against his bare chest.

Instead Walt settled for resting his forehead against the top of Jesse’s head, letting out a small contented sigh, reminding himself as well as Jesse that they were both safe now.

Jesse’s sobs had gradually subsided and Walt felt Jesse’s hands on his shirt begin to loosen. As pleasant as this was, Walt knew they couldn’t stay like this forever. And so he gently nuzzled Jesse’s hair with his head before lifting it and letting go of him.

“You feeling any better?” Walt asked, only taking the smallest of steps back, feeling a deep desire to remain close to the boy.

Jesse gave a small nod. His eyes were all watery, and he quickly wiped away at them with the sleeve of his hoodie as if embarrassed to be seen weeping. “Yeah, I’m good,” he confirmed, and Walt wondered if Jesse would be able to tell that he had been crying as well.

“I hope so. Cause like I said, I’m not going anywhere. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me in this old worn down cabin for the time being,” said Walt as he angled his head towards it, hoping to lighten the mood.

Apparently he succeeded as Jesse let out that sweet breathy laugh of his. To Walt, it was a wonderful sound. And to think he had come so close to never hearing it ever again…

“That actually sounds like the most awesome thing in the world,” Jesse answered, flashing Walt a shy smile.

Walt felt his heart swell at both the sight and at Jesse’s words, finding that he had to restrain himself from gathering Jesse back into his arms, fearing that if he did so, he just might not be able to ever let him go again.

In place of embracing him, Walt smiled and gave Jesse’s head a small pet, mindful of the pup’s ears. This was something else he definitely would have missed, Walt having quickly discovered that he enjoyed stroking Jesse’s hairs and ears. It also helped that Jesse seemed to love it in return.

Jesse’s tail began to slowly sway behind him. It was indeed a welcomed sight.

“How’s your tail? It didn’t get hurt when Tuco threw you out of that car did it?” Walt asked, remembering how Jesse had injured it when he had taken a tumble out of Walt’s bed a few weeks prior.

Jesse shook his head. “Nah, it’s fine,” Jesse reassured, and Walt was glad to hear so.

Jesse frowned, squinting slightly at the top of Walt’s skull. “Shit! Your head! Tuco. I’m guessing he…”

“Hit me with his gun,” Walt confirmed with a sigh.

Tentatively Jesse raised his hand, his fingers lightly hovering over the newly forming bruise as he edged in closer to get a better look at it, much like what Walt had done when checking over Jesse’s ears earlier.

“Does it hurt?” Jesse asked sympathetically.

“A little,” Walt admitted. “But not too much,” he added, reminding himself that Jesse had experienced far worse abuse at Tuco’s hands than he had.

“I guess he did that after I ran out, huh?” asked Jesse, sounding slightly guilty, which of course was absolutely ridiculous.

“Believe me, it was more than worth it in exchange for allowing you the chance to escape and get away from that maniac,” Walt reassured him.

“Suppose I kinda ruined it by coming back though.”

“Well, considering you coming back saved me from a life of servitude to Tuco in God knows where, I certainly can’t complain. Plus, I did get my own back with that axe.”

Jesse grinned. “Yeah, you were pretty awesome with that thing. You were totally badass!”

Walt couldn’t help but smile lightly at the admiration in Jesse’s voice, and squeezing Jesse’s shoulder, said “I think if anybody has showed that they were ‘badass’ today, it was you, pup.”

Jesse blushed, his tail starting to swing behind him again, clearly happy at having Walt praise him.

Walt gave a small chuckle but stopped as a cold breeze blew by. With Jesse no longer pressed against him and the adrenaline from everything having worn off, Walt shuddered, reminding him that he wasn’t currently wearing a jacket.

“Crap. You must be freezing,” said Jesse, hurriedly removing his hoodie and holding it out for Walt to take.

Walt held up his hand. “It’s fine. My jacket’s actually just over there by the car. Tuco didn’t really give me a chance to put it on before...well, everything.”

“I’ll go grab it,” Jesse announced, speedily running over to the car before Walt had the chance to say anything more. As Jesse did so, Walt noticed that Jesse actively avoided looking in the direction of Tuco’s body. Again, not that Walt could blame him, of course.

Despite the relatively short distance, Jesse was panting when he returned, Jesse grimacing slightly as he handed the jacket over to Walt, his hand held over his stomach.

It was then that Walt suddenly recalled that Tuco, as well as pulling his ears and almost strangling the poor boy during his assault, he had also kicked him.

“Are you okay?” Walt asked, grabbing Jesse’s shoulder with his free hand.  “Oh God, your ribs are they…” Jesse’s ribs had just finished healing, and to have them be injured again so soon seemed woefully unfair.

Jesse however shook his head. “Nah, like my tail, I got lucky. He missed them. Kicked me in the stomach.”

While getting kicked in the stomach was something most people wouldn’t consider lucky in the slightest, compared to what could have happened, Walt supposed in the end Jesse really was fortunate. They both were.

Reassured that Jesse was okay, Walt pulled his jacket on.

“We should probably head back inside,” he said, thinking of how much he just wanted to sit in front of the burning fire with Jesse close next to him and not have to think about any of this ever again.

Of course things were never that simple as Jesse shuffling uncomfortably soon highlighted by asking, “Uh, that sounds good, but what are we gonna do about Tuco’s, y’know…”

Walt’s shoulders sagged. Tuco was no longer a threat to them given that he was now dead, but that didn’t certainly didn’t mean that his body would magically fade away. It also didn’t help that with the close proximity of it to the cabin, it meant that Walt more or less had a dead body on his property, or at the very least, it would be viewed that way by any outsiders.

If Walt didn’t feel so exhausted as well as thankful to be alive and not crammed into the trunk of a car from being kidnapped, he would have been embarrassed to have overlooked such an important face.

While not many people drove by this way, panic arose in Walt at the off chance of someone taking the road that led here and subsequently spotting Tuco’s body. That or Hank suddenly showing up at the cabin to drop off leftovers from another one of Marie’s casseroles or to check in on Walt, only to see it lying there in the snow. And despite likely being one of the least probable people to be engaging in criminal activities in Hank’s eyes, Walt doubted even he could convince his ex-brother-in-law that somehow he hadn’t heard a man being shot or the gut-wrenching scream of someone being pierced with an axe this close to his cabin. 

As such, as things, stood, it was in both his and Jesse’s best interests for them be rid of Tuco’s body as quickly as possible. How they would go about doing so however, was another matter.

“Walt?” Jesse prodded lightly, when Walt didn’t respond to his question.

“We…We’ll have to dispose of it.”

Jesse nodded, appearing unsurprised, probably having already came to the same conclusion.

“How are we gonna do it?”

“I…I don’t know. I need to think,” Walt admittedly, uneasily. God, he never thought he would ever be in a position where he would have to consider the best way to hide and dispose of a corpse. Then again, he had never thought he would ever be cooking illegal substances either. “But for now, we need to store it somewhere out of sight just in the off chance someone comes by.”

“Where? Like in the cabin?”

Walt grimaced at the thought of bringing Tuco’s dead body into the place he had just recently come to consider home. Thankfully, however, he was able to come up with an alternative solution.

“The trunk of Tuco’s car. It’ll fit in there,” Walt said assuredly.

“Jesse, I…I know it’s unpleasant but I’ll probably need your help carrying Tuco’s body and getting it in there,” Walt added apologetically. After everything, Walt would rather Jesse not have to see, let alone go near that monster again, dead or not.

“Yeah, sure” replied Jesse as if it was a matter of fact that of course he would be helping Walt with such a task, “Guess we should probably do it now, huh?”

Walt nodded, repressing a sigh. “Yes. The sooner the better.”

With that agreed upon, they headed over to the body. Walt had Jesse grab Tuco’s legs while he took hold of his arms, figuring that it would be probably be better for Jesse to be in a position where he didn’t have to look directly down into Tuco’s face. Although, even worse than looking into Tuco’s face, as well as being something Walt only realised once he bent down to lift the body, was that wound on Tuco’s shoulder was covered in blood. And from picking him up to actually carrying him, the positioning made it impossible for Walt not to get some of it on his hands. At the very least, Walt was thankful that he wasn’t particularly squeamish, aware that there were many people who would be too nauseated to even cast a glance upon a corpse let alone carry one.

Walt noticed that Jesse’s nose was scrunched up while he carried Tuco, a distasteful expression on his face. With Jesse’ highly superior sense of smell, Walt wondered if to him Tuco smelt so dreadful already. Or perhaps it was simply the smell of death itself, which was generally unpleasant to everyone.

Between the stench assaulting Jesse’s nostrils and having to carry the body of the man he had shot and killed, Walt was amazed that the tender hearted pup was able to keep himself together so well.

With the two of them it wasn’t too difficult a task to carry Tuco over to the car, the trunk still laying wide open from earlier. Awkwardly, they stuffed the body in there, with Tuco dead, there being no need to be careful.

Peering into the trunk itself, Walt was again thankful that he hadn’t been crammed in there for what could have been days for all he knew. It seemed only fitting, that in the end, Tuco was the one forced in there. Although they certainly couldn’t afford to leave his body in there for days.

Slamming the trunk shut, Walt sighed while Jesse leaned against the car as he tried to regained his breath, his hand lightly pressed against his stomach. Walt felt guilt well up inside of him again.

“What now?” Jesse asked hesitantly after several minutes stretched by.

Walt didn’t answer right away; exhausted but also aware that figuring out how to handle this unique situation wasn’t something he could just put off until he regained some energy and composure. Shoving the body out of the way into the trunk of car was not a long-term solution.

As he thought things over, it occurred to him that it wasn’t just Tuco’s body they would have to dispose of, but the stolen car as well; the owner having probably reported it as being missing to the police by now. And while Walt may get away by feigning ignorance about how a stolen car had wound up outside his cabin if he played up the fact his ex-brother-in-law is a law enforcement, when it came to the dead body in the trunk, he doubted he could convince them he had no clue about. Undoubtably many questions would be thrown his way.

“Well, there’s a river not too far from here,” Walt began, “We could drive the car there and dump it in the water. If we do that, we get both rid of it and the body, but…”

Jesse tilted his head. “But?”

“During the Spring and Summer months, a lot of boats go sailing out there. Some people even go diving in that river, so there’s a chance –”

“A chance it’ll be found,” Jesse finished with a sigh.

Walt nodded solemnly. And while it was unlikely that if found either things could be linked back to them, Walt definitely did not want to take any risks.

The best scenario would inevitably be to have Tuco’s body, as well as the car, destroyed completely, making them completely untraceable.

“Shit,” cursed Jesse.

Walt rubbed over his face, feeling rather faint. A look of deep concern rose upon the pup’s face as if he could easily tell that Walt wasn’t doing so well.

“I…I’ll figure something out. Don’t you worry,” said Walt, attempting to reassure Jesse. Jesse was the one who needed tending to right now, not him. 

“In the meantime, I think you should have your injuries looked over,” Walt added, wondering if his worry about Jesse’s state of well-being had some bearing on his inability to think clearly.

“I’m fine. You don’t need to –” Jesse stopped abruptly, his ears perking up.

“Jesse?” Walt asked, confused by his sudden change in demeanour.

“We need to get rid of both the body _and_ the car, right?”

“That’s right,” replied Walt, not quite sure what Jesse was getting at, although his curiosity was definitely piqued. 

“I, uh…Well, I think I know someone who can help us out with that….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the lovely comments for the previous chapter. You guys are wonderful! :)
> 
> Apologises for such a long wait between the last update. The next chapter hopefully shouldn't take quite as long to get up.


	18. Chapter 18

It turned out that Walt was already acquainted with the person Jesse believed could help them, Walt having met them on the very same night that he had Jesse.

“Saul Goodman?” Walt asked incredulously when Jesse told him who he had in mind, “That doctor who looked over you when I…well, when I hit you with my car? How can he possibly help us?”

While it would definitely be wise for Jesse to have his injuries checked over, Walt failed to see how some sleezy back-alley doctor could possibly help them when it came to disposing of a dead body and making a vehicle disappear into thin air. As far as Walt was aware, such things tended to be out with the usual medical practitioners skillset.

“Well, truth is, he ain’t just a doctor.”

Walt frowned, wanting to point out that given that the man didn’t even have a medical licence, he technically wasn’t a doctor at all. He kept quiet however, allowing Jesse to continue.

The younger man went on to explain that Saul didn’t just treat and sew up criminals and other unsavoury people, but also happened to be involved in a variety of illicit activities, ranging from forgery to money laundering amongst other things. Mainly however, Jesse emphasized that he had guys working for him who dealt with clean-ups.

When Walt failed to see how any of that pertained to or could help with their situation, Jesse had rolled his eyes before enlightening him that this involved going to a crime scene and getting rid of as much evidence as possible before the cops showed up.

While Walt was reluctant to involve anyone else in this mess, he really did want both Tuco’s body and the stolen car off his property as quickly as possible, as well as to forget that this awful ordeal had ever occurred.

“Goodman. Can he really be trusted?” Walt asked, unsure if it was a good idea to involve him, knowing the man only from that night he had showed up at his cabin to look over Jesse’s injuries. Not that Walt himself actually knew anyone else who could possibly help them. “And dealing with a murder…” he continued, “It might be a bit more than he’s used to. What if we tell him all of this and he decides to go to the police with it?”

Jesse shot him a disbelieving look. “Did you even listen to what I just said? Seriously, with all the stuff Saul’s involved in, there’s no way he would ever rat us out to the cops. Plus, his customers are mostly criminals, remember? And as for the dead body in the trunk of the car outside, I’m pretty sure he’s dealt with worst shit than that.”

When it came to the police, Walt thought that was probably true; the good doctor likely wanting to avoid attracting the attention of the police just as much as they did. Not to mention getting the kind of people who made up your entire clientele base arrested certainly didn’t make for a good business practice.

Nevertheless, Walt still had his reservations; something which must have shown on his face as a moment later, Jesse looking somewhat worried, perhaps fearing he had misspoke, said, “Hey, we don’t have to call Saul, you know. It was just a suggestion. We’ll totally do whatever you feel’s best.”

This surprised Walt slightly. After everything that had happened, Jesse still retained a ridiculous amount of faith in him.

Inwardly, Walt smiled, feeling heartened that Jesse had so much trust in him.

Walt ran over the options – of which there seemed to be very few – in his head. Like himself, Jesse no doubt wanted this nightmare to be over as quickly as possible; to not have to spend lots of time figuring out how to, as well as helping to dispose of the corpse of the man who had attempted to murder him, and as result, Jesse in turn, had had to kill.

Walt placed his hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “No, you’re right, Jesse. We should give him a call.”

“You sure? We could dump the car and body in the lake like you suggested. I mean someone might find it, but even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to link it back to us, right?”

“It’s not something we should risk,” said Walt, contemplating all the things that could go wrong, “Besides, if what you say is correct, Goodman, or at least his guys, will know better than us how to handle this… well, particular situation.”

“Yeah, but it’ll cost though. Probably like a lot,” Jesse admitted, hesitantly, “Maybe not _a lot_ a lot, but still –”

“A lot,” Walt finished for him.

Jesse sighed. “Yeah.”

“Well, I hardly expected him to get rid of a corpse for us for free,” Walt said lightly, hoping to get a smile out of Jesse.

Jesse, however, was staring down at the ground, looking guilty.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just…It ain’t fair that you have to, you know, pay to get rid of Tuco’s body when I was the one who shot and –”

“Jesse, stop right there. You have absolutely nothing to feel bad about,” Walt said resolutely, “As I said before, you saved my life. The fact that we’re both still here and alive is worth far more than having to part with a little money, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I guess so.”

“Exactly.”

As much as it would sting, Walt would willingly give up all the money he had earned this past half year if it meant that he and Jesse were both safe and unharmed.

“You really sure?” Jessed asked,

Walt offered him a reassuring smile. “I am. Plus, you should have Saul look over you.” His hand still on Jesse’s shoulder, he gave it a small squeeze before letting go. “Now, how about we go inside and make that call? I don’t know about you, but I am freezing out here.”

Jesse nodded and smiled. “Sounds good, yo.”

With that settled, they headed back the short distance to the cabin.

The instance he walked through the door, Walt found himself overcome with a desire to never leave the place again, a far cry from before.

Or at least, he didn’t want to leave provided that Jesse remained here by his side. Which thankfully for the time being, seemed to be the case.

Keeping his coat on, Walt walked over and stood in front of the fireplace, wanting to give his chilled bones the chance to warm up. Considerately, Jesse added a couple of more logs to the waning fire, bringing it back to life. Walt gave him an appreciative nod to which Jesse smiled.

“Should I…” Jesse started to ask a few minutes later, the phone in his hand. Walt nodded, and reluctantly he left the warmth of the burning fire to join Jesse on the other side of the room.

Just as Jesse was about to dial however, the boy paused, letting out a small curse.

“What’s the matter?” Walt asked with concern. Was it possible that he had forgotten the doctor’s number?

“Well, I uh, still owe Saul money from last time, when he fixed up my ribs” Jesse admitted hesitantly.

Walt remembered. Just the other day when Jesse had announced that he had gotten a job and promised to pay him for letting him stay as soon as he got his first pay check, Walt had suggested that he pay Saul back first instead.

“He kind of doesn’t like offering his services out if you owe him anything, you know?” Jesse went on to explain., “I knew of a guy who Saul stitched up once. He promised to pay him back when he got the cash, but never did. Instead he spent his money on meth or some other shit. Later he got into this argument with some dude. It turned ugly and he got shot. After that happened, he went to Saul to patch him back up, but Saul refused outright to look at him cause he hadn’t paid up from before. Like he knew from last time that the guy wasn’t good for it. Anyway, the guy had to go to a regular hospital otherwise he would have probably bled out and died. They had to take his details there as well as contact the cops cause of the whole gunshot wound thing. The cops came to question him about what happened and ended up arresting him over a previous warrant or something and he ended up getting put away for like twenty years.”

While letting someone bleed out didn’t seem good medical practice, Walt did however concede that it was a good business decision considering the sort of people who required the man’s services. While Walt had no clue how many back-alley doctors there were lurking around, he could see why someone who was in trouble with the law and thus found themselves having to avoid conventional medical assistance, definitely wouldn’t want to be in a position where they were refused treatment by one. If anything it definitely provided a good incentive for untrustworthy individuals to pay any outstanding debts, not wanting to risk the alternative.

“So, Saul, he might not want to you know…until I pay him. Plus, to cover my medical bill, I said I would break in some place for him. But I…I don’t wanna do that anymore,” Jesse admitted dejectedly.

“I’ll cover your medical bill from before. Don’t worry about it,” offered Walt, causing that guilt ridden expression to arise upon Jesse’s face once again.

“But –”

“Jesse, it’s fine. Now call already,” Walt urged, his patience wearing thin. The sooner they got this over with, the better.

Jesse gave a small nod and proceeded to dial Saul’s number. “Hey, Saul? It’s uh, me, Jesse Pinkman,” he spoke into the receiver, “Look, I need your services. And not just like your services as a doctor.”

There was silence as Jesse listened to Saul’s response on the other end of the phone. Walt watched as Jesse rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I _know_ I owe you from last time. But it’s cool, I’ve got the money right here.” Jesse glanced at him for clarification that this was correct. Walt nodded.

“I swear you’ll get paid you when you get here. Anyway look, this like really urgent, so just listen okay?” Jesse took a deep breath before continuing. “So, uh, it’s like this–”

 

After Jesse explained the situation as best as he could without getting into too much of the specifics, Saul confirmed that he would be over as soon as possible. However, between contacting his people and driving here, it would probably be a few hours before he arrived.

In the meantime, Walt suggested that they both get cleaned up and changed, their clothes dirty and soggy. Jesse was adamant that Walt go have a shower first, and too tired to argue, Walt did so.

Getting undressed, Walt frowned, glancing down at the blood stain on the cuff of his shirt from when Tuco’s blood had ran down the handle of the axe. Walt shuddered at the memory. While he could probably get the stain out, he knew in the end, he would probably just toss the shirt instead.

Having stripped down, Walt got into the shower, letting the warm water wash over him. After everything he had been through today, it felt truly heavenly.

In the end, it was only when the water started to cool down that he realised just how much time had passed. Cursing, he quickly switched the shower off. The hot water never lasted long here and Jesse still needed to use the shower; Jesse who out of the two of them, had received the worst beating. And yet here he had gone and used up most, if not all, of the hot water.

Walt sighed, leaning his head against the tiles. Jesse, bless him, probably wouldn’t even be annoyed at him for it; would likely say something like ‘It’s cool, yo,’ or make a teasing comment that held no malice whatsoever.

Perhaps he should have insisted that Jesse went first,. That or they could have showered at the same time. Admittedly it would have been rather cramped, but they would have both gotten a hot shower which was better than nothing at all.

Walt closed his eyes. In his mind he could see Jesse standing there in shower in front of him, his back turned. The boy let out a small contented moan as the warm water gushing from the showerhead cascaded down his skin all the way to his tail as he started to clean himself. There was only one bar of soap so they would have to share; take turns. But that didn’t bother Walt because he was content to wait, to simply watch Jesse. Maybe he could even wash the boy’s back, rub the soap in between his shoulder blades.

Instantly, Walt’s eyes shot open as he let out a heavy breath, stunned at the imagery his mind had just conjured up.

Where in the hell had that come from?

Hurriedly, Walt climbed out of the shower, as if fleeing from it would rid him of his incredibly peculiar daydream.

It had to be shock, he reasoned. Shock from everything that had just happened. He had just had a near death experience after all. It was either that or he was even more exhausted than he had originally thought.

Walt knew that people’s minds came up with all manner of nonsensical scenarios in the aftermath of a traumatic event to help them process what had happened. He had just thought that those sorts of images were usually relegated to dreams.

Furthermore, how the vision of he and Jesse completely naked in the shower together was helping his mind process things, he had no absolutely no clue.

He decided that it was probably best not to think about it too closely. Especially not now when he had far more pressing matters to deal with, such as the dead body, hidden away in the trunk of a stolen car right next to his property. Besides, he highly doubted that it actually meant anything anyway.

After finished drying himself, Walt wrapped a towel around his waist and exited the bathroom.

Just as when he had left him, Jesse was sitting on the couch. Walt was surprised however to see that the TV wasn’t on. Instead, Jesse was leaning back, his eyes closed and brow furrowed. He appeared to be deep in thought, or as Walt suspected, probably replaying the events of the day over.

“Shower’s free,” Walt announced somewhat awkwardly, unable to quite rid himself of the embarrassment he felt after his rather unusual daydream.

Jesse startled slightly at his voice. The poor boy was still on edge. After everything, it was likely that they both would be for a good while to come.

“Cool,” said Jesse as he stood up, immediately relaxing when he saw it was only him.

Jesse had taken his hoodie off when he walked through the door, it being covered in muck and snow from when Tuco had forced him to the ground. Now seeing him standing there, his oversized t-shirt hanging on him, Walt was reminded of just how small Jesse really was. That he had willingly gone up against a brute like Tuco Salamanca to protect him seemed almost unthinkable. Tuco could have killed Jesse easily. Would have if Walt hadn’t brought that axe down on him.

His discomfort forgotten, Walt suddenly found himself filled with the urge to hurry over to Jesse, wrap his arms around him and pull him into a tight embrace.

“Hey, are you okay?” Jessed asked, worry in his voice, awakening Walt from his thoughts. It also reminded Walt that he was standing there completely naked barring the towel wrapped around his waist, staring stupidly at him. He highly doubted Jesse would want to be hugged by him in his current state.

“Of course. I’m fine,” Walt quickly replied, trying to mask his embarrassment.

“Just tired is all…” That much was true at least.

Jesse smiled sympathetically. “Yeah. Right there with you. I feel like I could sleep for a whole week. But for now a shower sounds pretty good.”

“I’m afraid I may have used up most of the hot water,” Walt admitted apologetically.

Jesse’s smile didn’t falter at the admission, instead letting out a small chuckle. “Yeah. I kinda figured from how long you were in there.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, before coming here, cold showers were all I ever got.” Occasionally Walt forgot that with nowhere else to go Jesse had been forced to live in that decrepit and uninviting warehouse; that he had had to sleep on some lumpy old mattress on the floor. Working there was one thing, thought Walt – he always got lost in his cook so his surroundings didn’t matter much to him either way – but to live there permanently was another thing. As few luxuries as the small cabin offered, to a certain extent it was probably seemed almost lavish to Jesse in comparison on what he was used to.

“There’s a clean towel in there for you.”

“Thanks.”

With that, Jesse went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him while Walt went into his bedroom to change, trying desperately not to think about Jesse in the shower washing himself.

Again, he tried rationalising that it was just the trauma that was leading to such thoughts; that he merely wanted to know that Jesse was safe, warm and comfortable was all. The warm water of the shower offered that to a certain extent and having robbed him of this, Walt was merely feeling guilty.

Yes. That was all there was to it. Absolutely nothing more.

 

Jesse emerged from the bathroom a short while later. Unlike Walt when he had exited, Jesse was completely dressed, having brought a change of clothes in with him like always, not having the privacy of a bedroom to change in like Walt.

Walt thought it was a good thing that Jesse got some new clothes the day before, otherwise he would have been stuck wearing Walt’s clothes as he had previously. Although seeing Jesse in his clothes did certainly present an interesting sight. Like the oversized clothes that Jesse wore already, it reminded Walt of how slender Jesse really was. He had looked so ridiculously petite wearing his shirt that time.

That morning, before all of the insanity had begun, Walt had cut out a hole in Jesse’s new pair of pants allowing room for his tail. Jesse, however, had been slightly resistant at first.

“Uh, maybe I should have a pair of pants that don’t have a hole in the back of them so you can’t see my tail, you know?”

“I thought these pants were for your new job,” Walt had countered, “Your boss doesn’t want your tail or ears to be hidden from view, right?”

“Yeah, I guess, but…” It was something that the pup was incredibly self-conscious about; his nonhuman appendages being on show for the world to see.

“Exactly,” said Walt resolutely, offering no room for discussion. Personally, Walt preferred it when he could see both Jesse’s ears and tails; enjoyed seeing the physical reactions of Jesse’s emotions in them, particularly when the pup was happy and excited.

Now wearing them, Jesse sat next to Walt on the couch as they waited for Saul to show up. Walt had turned the TV on while Jesse was showering, unlike Jesse, not wanting to reflect on the day’s events. He also didn’t want to think anymore of Jesse naked in the shower. It did prove slightly difficult with Jesse sitting so close to him however. Not that he was bothered by it of course. It felt nice. Comforting.

They watched TV in silence, Jesse shuffling every once in a while and accidentally nudging Walt’s knees a couple of times in the process. The boy was an awful fidget, which while at one point had been incredibly annoying to him, Walt now found it to be a somewhat endearing trait.

“How’s your eye?” Walt asked sympathetically, noticing that while trying to watch TV Jesse was squinting slightly in the eye where Tuco had punched him.

“Fine. Just stings a little.” The eye was tearing up and Jesse winced as he inadvertently rubbed his hand against it too roughly in an attempt to wipe the tears away. “Shit,” cursed Jesse.

“Hey, let’s get some ice on that shall we?” Walt suggested, and standing up, he headed to the kitchen and grabbed some from the freezer, wrapping it up in a small washcloth.

“Just try and stay still, okay?” he said as he sat back down, turning to face him. Jesse did as he requested while Walt tentatively reached over and placed the makeshift cold compress delicately over the bruising. Jesse flinched at first before gradually relaxing.

“This should help a bit with the swelling, but we’ll have Saul look at it when he gets here,” Walt reassured. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat guilty for not suggesting putting a cold compress on it as soon as Jesse had gotten off the phone.

Jesse slowly raised his hand to take the compress from him, his fingers brushing briefly against Walt’s as Walt released his hold on it. “Thanks, but I’m pretty sure that getting rid of the dead body out there is more important that Saul checking out my black eye,” Jesse point out a with a small chuckle.

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with having Saul check you over while he’s here,” Walt reasoned.

“You should get checked out as well,” replied Jesse, “How’s your head by the way?”

“Oh. It’s fine,” answered Walt, raising his hand so that it hovered slightly over the bump. “To be honest, my muscles ache more than this.” He was unsure if this was from being tossed to the ground numerous times or if he was just that out of shape that even the slightest bit of physical movement than usual hurt him.

And to think there was once a time when he went out jogging nearly every morning. Although, admittedly that was almost thirty years ago…

“That should be enough for now,” said Walt after twenty minutes or so, reaching over and taking the makeshift compress out of Jesse’s hand, again their fingers lightly brushing against each other’s, Jesse’s cold from the compress.

“Did that help any?”

Jesse nodded. “Yeah, it did thanks.”

Satisfied, Walt stood up and went to the kitchen, dumping the cloth and melting ice into the sink. He then returned with a clean dishtowel in his hand.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” said Walt, gently dabbing it around Jesse’s eye, careful not to hurt the boy. “There we go.”

He noticed the boy’s cheeks reddening slightly at his actions, in turn making Walt worry that the gesture had perhaps been too much. He pulled back, inwardly berating himself. He could have just as easily have handed Jesse the dishtowel. After all it wasn’t like Jesse was some child that needed tending to.

However, a moment later Jesse was fixing him with a somewhat shy smile. “You’re really good at this,” he said suddenly.

Jesse must have noticed the confused look on Walt’s face, as he quickly added, “Taking care of me – Uh, I mean people! You’re, um, pretty good at taking care of people is what I meant.”

Jesse’s cheeks darkened even further and Walt felt his heart start to swell. It seemed to be happening a lot these days.

Had he been so easily touched by things in the past? He didn’t think so. Skyler, had taken to pointing out, especially during these last few years, that he was depressingly cynical about both the world and the people in it. Walt would have argued that he was simply being a realist, feeling that their circumstances alone were more than enough to support his outlook.

Perhaps Jesse really had softened him. And if that truly was the case, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, was it?

As for Jesse telling him that he was good at taking care of people, he wasn’t so sure. He had tried to be a good husband, thought he had been until Skyler had kicked him out despite his actions in his mind being for the good of the family.

When it came to his children, he really wanted to believe that he was a good dad, how little time he actually got to spend time with them notwithstanding.

Really he thought that Jesse was the one who was good at taking care of people, Walt remembering how the boy had looked after him when he had been bedridden with the flu, checking in on him regularly and making sure he ate as well as going out into town to pick up ingredients to make him soup.

Jesse glanced at Walt hesitantly. “So, um, thanks, you know, for taking care of me,” Jesse mumbled, clearly embarrassed.

God, the boy was truly adorable. And really, Jesse must have softened him if he was thinking words such as ‘adorable’ out with the sphere of reference to his baby daughter. Nevertheless, despite his surprise and slight embarrassment, he felt that it was an apt word to describe the younger man.

“You’re welcome,” he replied with a small smile. “But honestly it’s the least I can do after everything.”

Reaching down he gave Jesse’s leg a small squeeze. “And I want to know that you’re okay, so if anything starts hurting again, just let me know, okay?”

Jesse smiled in return, his ears lifting up ever so slightly, a sign that let Walt know that the pup was pleased, making Walt feel the same way in turn.

“I’m good, Walt,” Jesse reassured.

Walt nodded and the two of them turned back to the television. If Jesse was bothered by Walt leaving his hand on his leg longer than was strictly necessary, he didn’t say anything about it. In fact, he was sure the boy had shuffled even closer towards him. And Walt was completely fine with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't believe that I've passed the 90,000 word mark on this. This slowburn really is slowburn, but I swear that they'll get together eventually!
> 
> Thanks very much for reading. As always, comments and kudos are really appreciated. :)


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